LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


977.3999 
L29h 


I  .H.S. 


A   HISTORY   OF  THE 
CITY   OF   CAIRO,  ILLINOIS 


*       Af 


i*». 


|V^  >yi.  ^^(/vv^x^^ 


A  HISTORY 

OF  THE 

CITY  OF  CAIRO 

ILLINOIS 

BY 

JOHN   M.  LANSDEN 


WITH  MAPS  AND  ILL  USTRA  TIONS 


CHICAGO 

R.  R.  DONNELLEY  &  SONS  COMPANY 

I91O 


•";  n     D   c.-,  o.  0\ 


■5  7  7  3 

\ 


Copyrighted,  1910 

BY 

JOHN  M.  LANSDEN 


R.  R.  DONNELLEY  &  SONS  COMPANY 
CHICAGO 


.i^,.f       Xce^vv/^ 


PREFACE 

I  HAVE  lived  In  Cairo  forty  years  and  during  all  that  time  have  been 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  profession  of  the  law.  I  ought,  there- 
fore, to  be  fairly  well  acquainted  with  what  has  taken  place, 
during  that  time,  in  and  concerning  the  citj'  and  which  was  worthy  of 
record  or  of  a  place  in  its  history.  For  many  years  I  have  preserved 
papers  and  documents  relating  to  the  city,  not  at  first  with  a  view  to 
writing  a  historj^  thereof,  but  just  as  any  one  would  preserve  papers  or 
documents  he  regarded  as  of  more  than  usual  interest.  These  have  so 
accumulated  that  I  have  felt  I  could  in  no  other  way  do  a  better  service 
for  the  people  of  Cairo  than  by  using  them  and  other  materials  in  the 
preparation  of  a  historj'^  of  the  city.  Besides  this,  1  have  not  known  of 
any  one  who  had  in  contemplation  the  undertaking  here  attempted. 

In  the  year  1864,  Mr.  Moses  B.  Harrell,  then  long  a  resident  of 
Cairo,  wrote  an  excellent  short  history  of  the  city,  and  the  same  became 
the  first  fifty  pages  of  a  city  director}'  of  that  year. 

The  History  of  Alexander,  Union,  and  Pulaski  Counties,  published 
in  1883,  twenty-seven  years  ago,  contains  three  several  parts  relating  to 
Cairo.  These  parts  were  written  by  Mr.  H.  C.  Bradsby,  who  had 
before  that  time  resided  in  Cairo  many  years.  The  book  is  a  large  one 
and  contains  many  biographical  sketches  of  citizens  of  Cairo.  There 
are  quite  a  number  of  copies  of  this  history  in  the  city  1  suppose;  but  of 
Mr.  Harrell's  history,  there  are  now  only  a  very  few  copies. 

This  history  must  necessarily  contain  much  that  is  found  in  the  other 
two,  just  as  the  second  contains  much  that  is  found  in  the  first;  but  I 
have  found  a  great  deal  which  I  have  deemed  worthy  of  permanent 
record,  which  is  not  embraced  in  either  of  the  other  two  books;  and 
further,  many  matters  merely  touched  upon  in  them  I  have  presented 
much  more  fully. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  book  contains  much  historical  information 
about  that  part  of  our  countrj'^  which  embraces  our  city,  county  and 
state — information  that  might  have  been  omitted  without  afEecting  the 
local  history ;  but  it  is  believed  little  of  it  will  be  found  so  foreign  to  the 
local  history  as  to  seem  wholly  out  of  place.  Lyocal  history  would  be 
very  local  indeed,  which  did  not  here  and  there  show  the  relation  of  the 

5 


193886 


6  PREFACE 

locality  to  much  that  was  outside  and  pertained  to  the  country  at  large. 
Then,  too,  I  have  desired  to  create,  in  some  small  degree  at  least,  a  desire 
in  the  younger  people  of  our  community  to  know  more  of  this  part  of  the 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi — this  Illinois  Country,  in  some  respects  the 
richest  part  naturally  of  the  United  States. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  devote  much  time  or  space  to  biographical 
sketches.  Ordinarily,  it  is  quite  difficult  enough  to  choose  between  what 
ought  and  ought  not  to  go  into  a  local  history  like  this.  The  book  should 
be  a  history  of  the  city  and  not  of  individuals,  excepting,  of  course,  of 
those  persons  who  have  been  so  identified  with  its  establishment  and 
growth  that  a  history  of  it  with  them  left  out  would  seem  very  in- 
complete. 

J.  M.  L. 

Cairo,  Illinois,  September,  1910. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  I 
Sketch  of  the  Illinois  Country  .  .  .  .13 

CHAPTER  n 
Early  French  Explorers  and  Missionary  Priests     .  .18 

CHAPTER  HI 
The  Illinois  Territorial  Government  .  .  -25 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  City  of  Cairo  of  1818        .  .  .  .  -30 

CHAPTER  V 
The  Site  and  Place  from  1818  to  1836  .  .  -39 

CHAPTER  VI 
The  City  of  Cairo  of  1836  to  1846.  —  The  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company  of  1836.  —  The  Illinois  Exporting 
Company.  —  The  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company        .     41 

CHAPTER  VII 
The  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  Succeeded  by  the 
Cairo    City   Property    Trust. — Cairo    from   June    13, 
1846,  to  December  23,  1853  •  •  •  .58 

CHAPTER  VIII 
Cairo's   Site   and  its   Abrasions   by  the   Rivers.  —  Levees 
AND     Levee     Construction.  —  The     Highest     Known 
Floods  .  .  .  .  .  .  .63 

CHAPTER  IX 

Low  Lots  and  Grounds.  —  Seepage.  —  The  Linegar  Bill.  — 

Street  Filling.  —  City  Indebtedness       .  .  •     79 

CHAPTER  X 
The  Wharf  and  Wharfage.  —  Riparian  Rights       .  .     85 

CHAPTER  XI 
Geological     Formations.  —  The     Signal     Station.  —  The 

River  Gauge.  —  Temperatures,  Rain  Falls^  etc.  .     90 

CHAPTER  XII 
The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  .  .  .  .96 

7 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XIII 
Maps  and  Plats  .  .  .  .  .  .  iii 

CHAPTER  XIV 
The     Ohio     and     Mississippi     Rivers.  —  The     Territory 
Drained.  —  Distances.  —  The  Ohio  River  as  a  Bound- 
ary    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .116 

CHAPTER  XV 
The  Health  of  the  City  .  .  .  .  .120 

CHAPTER  XVI 
Cairo  During  the  War  .  .  .  .  .128 

CHAPTER  XVII 
The  Churches  ......  138 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
The  Schools        .  .  .  •  .  •  .148 

CHAPTER  XIX 
The  a.   B.   Safford   Memorial   Library.  —  The   Woman's 
Club  and  Library  Association. — St.  Mary's  Infirmary. 
— The  United  States  Marine   Hospital  .  •  i53 

CHAPTER  XX 
The  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property.  —  The  Trus- 
tees  OF   the   Cairo   Trust   Property.  —  Their   Early 
Civil  Engineers.  —  The  Cairo  Newspapers        .  .  157 

CHAPTER  XXI 

Cairo  in  Servitude  to  Land  Companies        .  .  .  167 

CHAPTER  XXII 
The   American    Notes  .  .  .  .  .170 

CHAPTER  XXIII 
The  Town  Government  of  Two  Years  and  the  City  Gov- 
ernment   of    Fifty-Three    Years.  —  The    Seventeen 
Mayors  .  .  •  •  •  •  -177 

CHAPTER  XXIV 
Darius   Blake    Holbrook.  —  Miles   A.   Gilbert.  —  Samuel 
Staats  Taylor.  —  William   Parker   Halliday.  —  Hal- 
lid  ay   Brothers        .  .  •  .  •  .190 

CHAPTER  XXV 
The  Growth  of  "The  Three  States"  .  .  .208 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
Alexander  County  and  its  Other  Towns,  and  its  Earliest 

Settlers         .  .  .  .  .  .  .211 

CHAPTER  XXVn 
Harrell's   Short  History.  —  The   History  of  Alexander, 

Union  and  Pulaski  Counties        .  .  .  .217 

CHAPTER  XXVni 
Other  Railroads.  —  The  Illinois  Central  and  the  Thebes 
Railroad    Bridges.  —  The    Cairo    Harbor   and    Bacon 
Rock.  —  The  Ferries,  Cairo's  Need  of     .  .  .  220 

CHAPTER  XXIX 

Cairo  Banks. — Building  and  Loan  Associations. — The 
Custom  House.  —  The  Halliday  Hotel.  —  The  Spring- 
field Block.  —  The  Court  of  Common  Pleas     .  .231 

CHAPTER  XXX 
Extracts  from  Books^  Pamphlets  and  Letters  .  .  240 

CHAPTER  XXXI 

Fort  Jefferson. — Bird's  Point  and  the  Birds  .  .255 

CHAPTER  XXXII 

Miscellaneous  Papers.  —  Judges  of  the  Supreme,  Circuit 
AND  County  Courts.  —  Members  of  the  Legislature 
AND  Other  Bodies.  —  County,  City  and  Other  Offi- 
cers. —  Lists  of  Early  Residents  of  the  City,  Etc.        .  261 

CHAPTER  XXXIII 
Cairo  as  a  Business  Place.  —  The  Future  of  the  City        .  280 

Index         ........  289 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


John  M.  Lansden,  Photogravure 

Tanner's  Map  of  Illinois  of  1822 

Details  of  Maps  of  1718  and  1755 

Survey  of  Township  Seventeen,  1807 

Map  of  Cairo  of   18 18 

Shadrack  Bond,  Photogravure 

Elias  Kent  Kane,  Photogravure 

Thompson's  Survey  of   1837     • 

Chancellor  Kent's  Letter  of  1838 

Galena  Celebration,   1838 

Certificate  of  Stock  in  C.  C.  &  C.  Company 

Long's  Topographical  Map  of  1850 

Illinois   Central   Railroad   Tracks 

Junction  of  Rivers  (1858) 

Map  of   Proposed   Canal,    1838 

City  Ordinance  of  1843 

Gulf   Embayment  Area 

Judge  Sydney  Breese,  Photogravure 

Strickland  and  Taylor's  Map  of  1838 

Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers  at  Cairo 

Generals  Grant  and  McClernand 

River  Gunboats,  Cairo,  1861     . 

First  School  House 

A.  B.  S afford  Memorial  Library 

St.  Mary's  Infirmary     . 

Cairo  in  1841 

Mayors  of  Cairo 

Mayors  of  Cairo 

Darius  B.   Holbrook,   Photogravure 

Miles  A.  Gilbert,  Photogravure 

Samuel  Staats  Taylor,  Photogravure 

William   P.   Halliday,   Photogravure 

Thebes  Court  House,  1845 

Cairo  Court  House,    1864 


page 
Frontispiece 
13 
18 

25 
30 
36 
37 
39 
45 
50 

54 
58 
63 

72 

79 

85 

90 

96 

III 

116 

128 

134 
148 

153 
155 
170 
177 
183 
190 

193 
196 
203 
211 
214 


12 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


Illinois  Central  Railroad  Bridge 

Thebes  Railroad  Bridge 

Bed  of  Ohio  River  at  I.  C.  Bridge 

Cairo-Kaskaskia  Bank  Bills 

Custom  House  and  Post  Office  Building 

Alexander  M.  Jenkins,  Photogravure 

U.  S.  Battleship  Concord 


.  220 
.  227 
.  229 
.  231 
.  233 
.  238 
.  280 


H.  S.  Tanner's  Map,  P 


HISTORY  OF  CAIRO 


CHAPTER  I 

SKETCH   OF   THE  ILLINOIS   COUNTRY 

THE  geographical  position  of  this  place,  at  the  junction  of  the 
two  rivers,  requires,  it  seems  to  me,  a  somewhat  full  account  of 
the  attention  given  it  before  any  attempt  was  made  to  establish 
a  city  here,  which  was  in  the  year  i8i8.  This  account  may,  therefore, 
be  called  the  introductory  chapter. 

The  colonial  grants  to  Virginia  of  May  23,  1609,  and  of  March  12, 
1612,  were  for  territory  extending  "from  sea  to  sea.  West  and  North- 
west" or  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  was  not  then 
known  how  far  westward  it  was  to  the  Pacific  coast ;  and  the  uncertainty 
about  the  western  boundary  of  the  grants  afforded  grounds  for  the  ter- 
ritorial disputes  which  subsequently  arose. 

The  French  had  entered  the  country  by  way  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
quite  as  early  as  the  English  had  entered  it  further  southward ;  and  the 
former,  pushing  westward  and  southward,  crossed  these  so-called  sea-to- 
sea  grants,  which  to  them  had  nothing  more  than  a  mere  paper  existence. 
They,  also,  not  long  afterward,  came  into  the  country  on  the  south  and  by 
way  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Their  claims  to  the  country  were  based 
on  the  right  of  discover}'  and  on  other  grounds  not  necessary  to  be 
noticed  here.  They  established  posts  here  and  there  in  their  widely 
extended  dominions.  Differences  now  and  then  arose  between  the  au- 
thorities in  Canada  and  those  at  New  Orleans.  Both  claimed  juris- 
diction over  the  Illinois  country,  which  embraced  the  whole  country 
between  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  rivers  and  west  of  Canada.  But 
these  jealousies  of  each  other  never  interfered  with  their  hearty  co-opera- 
tion against  the  English.  All  told,  their  numbers  in  the  whole  country 
were  less  than  one-tenth  that  of  the  English ;  but  they  went  ever>'where 
and  easily  obtained  favor  with  the  original  occupants  of  the  country. 
Religion,  business  and  amusement  went  hand  in  hand ;  and  soon  it 
became  apparent  that  New  France  was  to  extend  from  the  Gulf  to  the 
Great  Lakes  and  thence  eastward  to  the  Alleghanies,  and  that  the  English 
were  to  have  nothing  west  of  that  mountain  range.  Nothing  shows  so 
clearly  the  character  and  extent  of  the  French  claim  as  the  fact  that  it 

13 


14  HISTORY   OF  THE   CITY   OF   CAIRO 

embraced  the  Ohio  River  country  and  reached  to  the  present  site  of 
Pittsburg,  where  they  established  their  Fort  Du  Quesne. 

The  English,  seeing  their  sea-to-sea  grants  so  wholly  disregarded, 
began  to  assert  their  supposed  superior  rights.  They  saw  that  should  the 
French  acquire  permanent  lodgment  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  as 
they  had  in  the  Valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  along  the  Great  Lakes, 
they  would  be  shut  in  by  the  Alleghanies  and  confined  to  the  Atlantic 
coast.  These  territorial  disputes,  to  which  we  can  only  make  the  barest 
reference,  extended  over  well-nigh  a  centurj'^  and  a  half.  A  few  years 
of  peace  now  and  then  ensued ;  but  on  the  whole,  a  well-established  state 
of  controversy  existed  all  the  time.  The  two  great  nations  were  the 
actual  claimants,  and  often  the  controversy  in  the  new  world  was  but 
the  counterpart  of  that  in  the  old,  between  the  same  parties.  The 
English  saw  plainly  that  if  they  were  not  to  be  shut  in  by  that  coast 
range  of  mountains,  they  must  maintain  their  asserted  territorial  lines 
by  force  of  arms. 

The  country  was  not  uninhabited.  The  Indians  were  everywhere. 
Wherever  one  went  in  the  great  broad  land,  he  found  himself  within  the 
bounds  of  some  one  of  its  innumerable  tribes.  The  contending  parties 
took  little  account  of  these  early  occupants.  Each  enlisted  their  aid 
against  the  other.  In  the  one  case,  the  Indian  was  to  help  the  French- 
man for  the  Frenchman's  sake;  in  the  other,  the  Englishman  for  the 
Englishman's  sake;  but  all  the  while,  the  contest  was  for  the  land  and 
country  the  Indian  himself  claimed. 

It  was  long  a  state  of  war,  interrupted  now  and  then  by  stirring 
events  elsewhere.  Canada  was  now  and  then  entered,  held,  and  aban- 
doned by  the  English.  Finally,  in  the  year  1755  what  proved  to  be 
the  final  struggle  came  on ;  and  after  the  lapse  of  about  seven  years,  the 
French  and  Indian  or  the  French  and  English  wars  came  to  an  end  with 
the  fall  of  Quebec,  and  the  Treaty  of  Paris  in  1763.  It  was  a  great 
victor)^  It  was  a  great  treaty.  It  settled  the  dispute  which  had  lasted 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  It  cleared  every  cloud  off  the  English 
title  and  made  way  for  a  consolidated  empire,  which  never  could  have 
existed  with  New  France  between  the  Alleghanies  and  the  Mississippi. 

How  the  fates  of  nations  are  decided !  Often  a  single  battle,  a  single 
mistake  in  diplomacjf,  a  single  failure  to  grasp  the  great  situation — these 
sometimes  turn  nations  upside  down  and  turn  the  current  of  events  the 
world  over.  The  new  world,  or  our  part  of  it,  was  the  prize  between 
the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Latin.  They  were  both  seeking  to  establish 
great  colonies — seeking  to  reproduce  themselves  upon  the  newest  and 
most  fertile  continent  the  earth  afforded. 

"Thus  terminated  a  war  which  originated  in  an  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  French  to  surround  the  English  colonists  and  chain  them  to  a 
narrow  strip  of  countr}'  along  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic,  and  ended  with 
their  giving  up  the  whole  of  what  was  their  only  valuable  territory  in 
North  America."  "She  was  utterly  stripped  of  her  American  possessions, 
little  more  than  a  hamlet  being  left  her  in  lower  Louisiana."  (Hinton's 
United  States.) 


SKETCH   OF   THE   ILLINOIS   COUNTRY  15 

The  Illinois  country,  after  thus  passing  from  France  to  England, 
was  placed  under  the  care  of  Captain  Sterling,  who  was  succeeded  by 
Major  Farmer,  who  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  Colonel  Reed  in  1765; 
in  which  year  the  country  was  annexed  to  Canada.  Reed  was  succeeded 
by  Colonel  Wilkins,  whose  administration  was  far  more  satisfactory 
than  those  of  his  predecessors. 

Few  persons  in  America  and  still  fewer  in  England  supposed  that  this 
victorious  peace  of  1763  would  soon  be  followed  by  war  between  the 
victors  themselves,  but  it  was.  The  lapse  of  thirteen  years  witnessed 
the  opening  of  our  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  in  1783,  just  twenty 
years  after  the  peace  of  1763,  England  surrendered  to  her  thirteen 
colonies  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  well-nigh  all  she  had  claimed  and  fought 
for  during  almost  two  hundred  years.  The  Canadians  seemed  to  think 
they  wanted  no  more  war,  or  they  felt  less  friendly  toward  their  neigh- 
bors than  toward  their  distant  rulers.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  peace 
of  1783  took  the  whole  Illinois  country  out  of  what  had  been,  under 
the  French,  alternately  a  part  of  Canada  and  a  part  of  Louisiana. 

Bare  reference  can  only  be  made  to  the  campaign  of  General  George 
Rogers  Clark,  whom  Virginia  in  1778  had  sent  into  the  Illinois  country, 
and  thereby  laid  the  foundation  for  the  claim  she  subsequently  asserted, 
that  the  country  was  hers  by  conquest  as  well  as  by  virtue  of  those  sea-to- 
sea  grants.  She  had  by  her  act  of  December  17,  1778,  organized  the  ter- 
ritory and  called  it  the  County  of  Illinois,  for  which  reason  it  has  been 
spoken  of  as  the  mother  county  of  all  the  counties  in  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Michigan,  and  Wisconsin.  In  another  part  of  the  book,  giving 
an  account  of  "Fort  Jefferson,"  we  give  a  letter  of  General  Clark  to 
Governor  Jefferson,  written  September  23,  1779. 

The  colonies  no  longer  fearing  the  French  or  the  English,  turned 
their  attention  to  the  question  of  the  ownership  of  the  Illinois  countrj^; 
and  now  arose  a  territorial  dispute  between  them  which  constitutes  one 
of  the  most  interesting  parts  of  our  country's  history.  It  is  treated  of 
and  dwelt  upon  in  so  many  histories  and  other  works,  that  even  partial 
enumeration  of  them  is  quite  out  of  the  question. 

Here,  as  in  many  other  matters  of  those  early  days,  Virginia  was  the 
chief  actor  and  claimant.  By  the  treaty  of  1763,  England  had  sur- 
rendered all  of  her  claims  to  the  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi.  This 
gave  a  definite  western  boundary  to  those  sea-to-sea  grants  under  which 
Virginia  claimed.  But  while  she  was  willing  that  her  southern  boundary 
should  be  a  straight  east-and-west  line,  she  desired  her  northern  boundary 
to  run  northwestward  after  reaching  the  Ohio  River.  This  gave  her 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  Illinois  country.  Those  colonies  without  terri- 
torial possessions  urged  that  the  territories  should  be  ceded  to  the  General 
Government,  because,  they  said,  they  had  been  won  and  secured  by  the 
common  blood  and  treasure  of  all  the  colonies.  Virginia,  following 
New  York,  but  not  without  saying  New  York  had  nothing  to  cede, 
ceded  her  Illinois  country.  She  had  long  held  out,  insisting  that  if 
she  ceded  the  northwest  territory  to  the  General  Government,  the  latter 


i6  HISTORY   OF   THE   CITY   OF   CAIRO 

should  guarantee  to  her  the  territory  she  claimed  south  of  the  Ohio 
River — that  is,  Kentucky.  This  desire  for  such  a  guarantee  seemed  to 
cloud  somewhat  her  claim  or  title  to  the  territory  north  of  the  river. 
Her  session  was  made  March  i,  1784;  and  this  was  followed  by  the 
justly  celebrated  ordinance  of  July  13,  1787.  The  territory  was  divided 
by  the  act  of  May  7,  1800,  and  the  western  part  called  Indiana  Ter- 
ritory. The  eastern  part,  a  little  later  on,  namely,  in  1802,  was 
admitted  into  the  Union  as  the  State  of  Ohio.  The  Indiana  Territory 
was  divided  by  the  act  of  January  11,  1805,  and  the  northern  part 
called  Michigan.  It  was  again  divided  by  the  act  of  February  3,  1 809, 
and  the  western  part  of  it  called  Illinois,  and  the  seat  of  government 
fixed  "at  Kaskaskia  on  the  Mississippi  River" 

We  need  not  trace  the  history  of  the  remainder  of  the  northwest  ter- 
ritory, which  now  embraces  the  State  of  Wisconsin  and  that  part  of 
Minnesota  east  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

We  have  thus  passed  rapidly  over  the  history  of  the  Illinois  country. 
From  the  Virginia  charter  of  May  23,  1609,  to  the  act  of  Congress, 
February  3,  1809,  organizing  Illinois  territory,  we  have  the  long  period 
of  two  hundred  years. 

The  same  form  of  territorial  government  provided  for  by  the  ordi- 
nance of  1787  was  extended  in  turn  to  the  territories  of  Indiana,  Michi- 
gan, and  Illinois  by  those  acts  of  Congress  of  i8cxD,  1805,  and  1809.  It 
provided  for  a  Governor,  a  Secretary  of  the  territory,  and  three  Judges 
to  hold  the  territorial  court;  and  when  the  territory  was  found  to  con- 
tain five  thousand  free  male  inhabitants,  they  were  to  have  a  general 
assembly,  to  consist  of  the  Governor,  the  legislative  council  of  five 
members,  and  a  house  of  representatives  of  one  member  for  each  five 
hundred  free  male  inhabitants.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  there  were 
two  forms  or  grades  of  government  provided  for  the  territory.  In  the 
first  form  or  grade,  the  Governor  and  the  three  Judges  were,  from  time 
to  time,  to  adopt,  publish,  and  report  to  Congress  such  of  the  law^s  of 
the  original  states  as  they  deemed  suited  to  the  condition  of  the  territory, 
and  these  laws  were  to  continue  in  force,  unless  disapproved  of  by  Con- 
gress, until  the  organization  of  the  general  assembly ;  and  this  carried  the 
territorial  government  into  the  second  grade.  The  five  members  of  the 
legislative  council  were  to  be  selected  by  Congress  out  of  the  ten  persons 
nominated  by  the  territorial  house  of  representatives.  It  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  this  celebrated  ordinance  prescribed  certain  property  qualifica- 
tions for  the  holding  of  offices  in  the  territory.  The  Governor  was 
required  to  have  a  freehold  estate  in  one  thousand  acres  of  land,  the 
Secretary  of  the  territory,  the  three  Judges,  and  the  members  of  the 
legislative  council,  in  five  hundred  acres,  and  the  members  of  the  house 
of  representatives  were  to  be  the  owners  in  fee  of  t\vo  hundred  acres  of 
land  within  the  territory ;  and  an  elector  of  a  representative  was  required 
to  have  a  freehold  estate  in  fifty  acres.  The  act  of  Congress  of  May  20, 
1812,  further  modified  the  ordinance  by  requiring  the  members  of  the 


SKETCH   OF   THE   ILLINOIS   COUNTRY  17 

council  to  be  elected  by  the  people;  and  for  this  purpose  the  Governor 
was  directed  to  divide  the  territory  into  five  districts,  in  each  of  which 
one  member  was  to  be  chosen.  Voters  were  required  to  be  taxpayers, 
not  real  estate  owners.  The  act  limited  the  number  of  representatives  to 
not  less  than  seven  nor  more  than  twelve,  until  there  should  be  six 
thousand  free  male  inhabitants  above  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  in  the 
territorj^  from  which  time  the  government  was  to  proceed  according  to 
the  original  ordinance. 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY  FRENCH  EXPLORERS  AND  MISSIONARY  PRIESTS 

THOUGH  so  often  told,  and  now  getting  to  be  somewhat  of  an 
old  story,  it  seems  somehow  naturally  to  fall  into  line  with  every 
account  of  places  and  points  on  the  Mississippi  River;  and  hence 
we  beg  to  be  allowed  to  refer  briefly  to  some  of  the  old  French  ex- 
plorers. 

M.  Louis  JoUet  and  Father  Jacques  Marquette,  commissioned  to 
accompany  him,  left  the  Mission  of  St.  Ignace,  May  17,  1673,  to  find 
the  Mississippi  and  especially  to  find  into  what  body  of  water  it  flowed. 
They  crossed  the  lake  and  entered  Green  Bay,  ascended  Fox  River,  made 
the  portage  to  the  Wisconsin,  and  passing  down  that  river  reached  the 
Mississippi  June  17,  1673.  Some  of  the  incidents  of  this  voyage  on  the 
great  river  were,  their  friendly  reception  by  the  Indians;  their  passage 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  whose  rushing  waters  filled  them  with 
wonder  and  some  of  them  with  fear;  their  pause,  about  July  1st,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Ouabache  (Ohio)  to  reflect  that  the  river  was  long  and 
came  from  the  country  of  the  Iroquois;  their  arrival  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Arkansas,  where  they  became  satisfied  the  great  stream  did  not  flow  into 
the  Gulf  of  California,  but  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  their  return,  July 
17th,  up  the  river  and  their  passage  again  of  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio 
about  August  ist;  and  their  arrival  at  Kaskaskia  on  the  Illinois  the  latter 
part  of  that  month.  Joliet  was  the  leader,  intent  on  discoveries,  intent 
on  finding  things;  Marquette,  the  chronicler,  the  observer,  the  missionary, 
writing  much  about  the  Indians  and  their  superstitions. 

Father  Louis  Hennepin  has  been  doubted,  from  time  to  time,  by  a 
number  of  writers,  some  of  whom  have  found  themselves  in  error  and 
acknowledged  the  same.  It  would  be  quite  out  of  place  to  enter  into  a 
controversy  here  and  show  why  we  should  omit  what  he  claims  to  have 
seen  or  discovered.     We  give  two  or  three  short  extracts: 

"The  next  day,  being  the  loth  of  March,  1660,  we  came  to  a  river 
within  forty  leagues  of  the  Tamaroa;  near  which,  as  the  Illinois  inform 
us,  there  is  a  nation  of  savages  called  Ouadebache.  We  remained  until 
the  14th,  because  one  of  our  men  killed  a  wild  cow  as  she  was  swimming 
over  the  river,  whose  flesh  we  were  obliged  to  dry  with  smoke  to  pre- 
serve it.  Being  thus  provided  with  Indian  corn  and  flesh,  we  left  that 
place  the  14th,  and  saw  nothing  M^orth  observation.  The  banks  of  the 
river  are  so  muddy  and  so  full  of  rushes  and  reeds,  that  we  had  much  to 
do  to  find  a  place  to  go  ashore. 

"They,  the  Indians,  called  Sicacha  or  Chickasas,  offered  to  go  and 


DellsIe-1718 


Bellin-1755 


Details  of  Maps  in  Chicago  Historical  Library 


FRENCH  EXPLORERS  AND  MISSIONARIES  19 

settle  themselves  upon  the  river  Ouabache  to  be  near  Fort  Crevecoeur 
in  the  country  of  Illinois,  v^^hither  they  are  traveling.  This  famous  river 
of  the  Ouabache  is  fully  as  large  as  Meschasipi.  A  great  many  other 
rivers  run  into  it.  The  outlet  v^^here  it  discharges  itself  into  the 
Meschasipi  is  two  hundred  leagues  from  the  Akansa,  according  to  M. 
de  La  Salle's  computation.  The  truth  is,  it  is  not  so  far,  across  the 
country,  but  it  may  be  as  much  in  following  the  course  of  the  river 
Meschasipi,  which  winds  about  very  much.  Start  over  land  it  is  not 
above  five  good  days'  journey.  They  crossed  the  river  Ouabache 
August  26,  1687,  and  found  it  full  sixty  leagues  along  the  river  Mescha- 
sipi to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Illinois." 

We  are  told  to  beware  of  Baron  de  La  Hontan  quite  as  much  if  not 
more  than  of  Father  Hennepin ;  but  we  must  give  the  little  he  says  about 
the  Ohio  river: — 

"After  we  had  spent  two  days  with  them,  we  pursued  our  voyage  to 
the  River  Ouabache,  taking  care  to  watch  the  Crocodiles  very  narrowly, 
of  which  they  had  told  us  incredible  Stories.  The  next  day  we  enter'd 
the  Mouth  of  that  River,  and  sounded  it,  to  try  the  truth  of  what  the 
Savages  reported  of  its  depth.  In  effect,  we  found  three  Fathoms  and 
a  half  of  Water;  but  the  Savages  of  our  Company  alledg'd  that  'twas 
more  swell'd  than  usually.  They  all  agreed  that  'twas  Navigable  an 
hundred  Leagues  up,  and  I  wish'd  heartily  that  my  time  had  allow'd 
me  to  run  up  to  its  Source;  but  that  being  unreasonable,  I  sail'd  up 
against  the  Stream,  till  we  came  to  the  River  of  the  Illinese,  which  we 
made  on  the  9th  of  April  with  some  difficulty,  for  the  Wind  was  against 
us  the  first  tv\^o  days,  and  the  Currents  was  very  rapid." 

This  was  in  1689.  (See  Thwaites'  La  Hon  tan's  Voyages,  Vol.  i^ 
p.  205). 

Cavelier  de  La  Salle,  who,  it  seems  in  1669,  four  years  earlier,  had 
gone  as  far  southward  as  the  Ohio  River  at  the  falls,  was  more  inter- 
ested in  the  story  of  the  journey  of  Joliet  and  Marquette  than  any  one 
else.  It  seemed  strange  to  him  that  they  had  stopped  short  of  the  gulf, 
but  he  was  thankful  for  it,  no  doubt.  The  deterrent  effect  of  the  stories 
of  Indians  on  the  lower  Mississippi  aroused  in  him  few  and  slight  fears. 
It  was  an  opportunity  not  to  be  lost,  an  opportunity  furnished  by  others, 
who  should  have  taken  it  themselves. 

La  Salle,  with  Tonti  and  Membre,  left  Fort  Miami,  near  where  St. 
Joseph,  Michigan,  now  stands,  December  21,  1681,  crossed  the  lake  to 
the  Chicago  River,  and,  loading  their  canoes  and  baggage  on  sleds  they 
there  made,  worked  their  way  on  land  and  frozen  rivers  down  to  a  point 
at  or  below  Lake  Peoria,  and  from  thence  proceeded  by  water,  and  on  the 
6th  of  February,  1682,  they  rowed  out  upon  the  Mississippi.  They 
were  detained  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  by  the  floating  ice  until  Feb- 
ruary 15th,  when  they  proceeded  on  their  journey.  They  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio  about  February  20th,  the  bluffs  north  of  Memphis 
the  24th,  and  the  Gulf  April  9,  1682.    There  they  erected  the  standards 


20 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

of  Louis  XIV  and  of  the  Church,  and  proclaimed  the  whole  country  of 
the  great  valley  part  of  the  dominions  of  the  great  French  king. 

Joutel,  writing  after  the  death  of  La  Salle,  speaks  as  follows  of  the 
Ohio:— 

"The  19th  of  August  (1687),  we  came  to  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
called  Houabache,  said  to  come  from  the  country  of  the  Iroquois  toward 
New  England.  That  is  a  very  fine  river.  Its  waters  are  extraordinary 
clear  and  the  current  of  it  gentle.  Our  Indians  offered  up  to  it,  by  way 
of  sacrifice,  some  tobacco  and  beefstakes,  which  they  fixed  on  forks  and 
left  them  on  the  bank,  to  be  disposed  of  as  the  river  saw  fit." 

Father  Jean  Francois  de  St.  Cosme,  a  Canadian  Seminarian  Priest, 
writing  to  the  Bishop  of  Quebec,  speaks  of  this  place  as  follows : — 

"We  left  Cape  St.  Antoine  (Grand  Tower)  on  the  14th  of  December 
(1699),  and  on  the  15th,  we  halted  for  the  night  one  league  below  the 
Wabache  (Ohio),  a  large  and  beautiful  river,  which  is  on  the  left  of  the 
Mississippi  and  comes  from  towards  the  north,  and  is,  they  say,  five 
hundred  leagues  long,  and  rises  near  the  Sonontuans  (Senecas).  They 
go  by  this  river  to  the  Chananous  (Shawnees)  who  traded  with  the  Eng- 
lish. On  the  1 6th  we  started  from  the  Wabache  and  nothing  special 
befell  us  nor  did  we  find  anything  remarkable  until  we  reached  the 
Acansias  (Arkansas)." 

Father  Jacques  Gravier  left  Michilimackinac  September  8,  1700. 
His  journey  was  by  the  Illinois  and  the  Mississippi,  and  with  his  canoes 
and  companions  he  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  about  October  15, 
1700.  Here  they  were  detained  by  the  illness  of  one  or  two  of  their 
number  until  October  i6th,  when  they  resumed  their  voyage  to  the 
Gulf.  While  here  Father  Gravier  was  chiefly  concerned  about  the  illness 
of  his  companions,  who  seemed  to  have  been  taken  \vith  what  the  Father 
called  the  tertian  fever,  a  fever  coming  on  every  third  day,  and  for  this 
severe  disease  he  relates  how  he  discovered  a  most  excellent  remedy. 
He  says  little  about  the  two  rivers  or  their  junction,  but  like  the  few 
others  who  had  preceded  him,  he  looked  forward  anxiously  to  what  was 
still  to  be  found  ahead  of  him.  One  point  is  reached  only  to  arouse 
concern  as  to  what  is  to  be  seen  or  met  with  further  on.  His  account 
should  be  read,  first  to  see  his  care  for  the  Indians,  who  were  then 
leaving  their  loved  home  on  the  Illinois  for  their  new  one  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, where  they  established  the  second  Kaskaskia,  and,  second,  for  the 
description  of  the  wild  game  they  saw  and  some  of  which  they  killed 
here  and  there.  He  speaks  of  the  bears,  and  says  those  along  the 
Mississippi  were  lean  and  those  of  and  from  the  Ohio  were  fat,  and 
that  all  of  them  seemed  to  be  moving  from  the  south  to  the  north.  The 
day  they  reached  here  they  saw  fifty  of  them,  only  four  of  which 
they  killed — all  they  needed.  It  is  interesting  to  read  the  whole  account, 
found  in  Vol.  LXV,  Jesuit  Relations,  pp.  105-111.  Of  his  remedy  for 
the  tertian  fever,  he  says:  "I   found  an  excellent  remedy  for  curing 


FRENCH  EXPLORERS  AND  MISSIONARIES  21 

our  French  of  their  fever.  A  small  piece  of  Father  Francois  Regis'  hat, 
which  one  of  our  servants  gave  me,  is  the  most  infallible  remedy  that  I 
know  of  for  all  kinds  of  fever."  He  speaks  also  of  the  fine  weather. 
It  was  about  the  middle  of  the  month  of  October,  1700.  October  is, 
perhaps,  the  finest  month  of  our  year. 

Sieur  Charles  Juchereau  de  St.  Denis,  of  France,  and  afterwards  of 
Canada,  obtained  a  concession  from  his  government,  and  came  hither 
with  thirty  other  Frenchmen,  in  about  the  year  1702,  and  built  a  fort 
and  a  tanner}^  here  or  within  a  few  miles  of  the  junction  of  the  rivers. 
Pontchartrain  had  sought  the  establishment  of  a  fort  and  post  at  this 
point.  The  French  on  the  lower  Mississippi  claimed  jurisdiction  over 
everything  adjoining  that  river  on  the  east,  throughout  its  entire  length. 
Juchereau  was,  in  modern  phrase,  a  business  Frenchman  and  prosecuted 
trade  in  this  region  with  diligence  and  enterprise.  The  Canadian 
French  were  not  friendly  to  his  pursuits  in  this  latitude.  They  wanted 
everything  in  the  Illinois  country  made  tributary  to  their  St.  Lawrence 
course  of  trade  and  traffic.  The  country  here  must  have  been  swarming 
with  buffaloes;  for  in  the  course  of  a  year  or  tivo,  Juchereau  and  his 
thirty  Frenchmen  had  killed  and  skinned  thirteen  thousand  of  them  and 
had  their  skins  in  store  and  ready  for  shipment.  What  a  time  they  must 
have  had  hunting  in  this  region!  The  country  abounded  in  game  of 
all  kinds  besides  buffaloes.  Think  of  the  bears,  the  deer,  the 
turkeys,  the  geese  and  ducks,  and  many  other  kinds  of  game. 
Father  Gravter,  in  1700,  said  the  bears  on  the  Mississippi  were 
lean,  but  those  on  the  Ohio  were  fat  and  well  favored.  Juchereau 
no  doubt  came  down  this  far  to  be  .on  the  Wabash  (Ohio)  as  well  as  on 
the  Mississippi.  They  hunted  in  all  three  of  these  states,  over  in  Bal- 
lard County  (Ky.),  Mississippi  County  (Mo.),  and  in  our  own 
Alexander  Count}',  and  much  further  and  in  all  directions.  There 
were  no  game  laws.  No  licenses  were  required  nor  descriptions  of  the 
hunters,  and  all  seasons  were  hunting  seasons.  They  were  probably 
located  on  the  little  river  north  of  us,  and  it  is  altogether  probable  they 
gave  it  the  name  of  Cache.  This  name.  Cache  River,  appears  on  an  old 
map  of  1755,  but  it  no  doubt  bore  that  name  long  before  it  obtained 
a  place  on  any  one's  map.  The  Indians  did  not  give  the  river  one 
of  their  names.  The  French  named  it,  and  if  there  is  any  truth  in  the 
statements  of  numerous  historical  writers  as  to  Juchereau,  and  his  fort 
and  tanner)',  his  buffaloes  and  buffalo  skins,  it  is  highly  probable  our  little 
river  received  its  name  from  him. 

But  Juchereau  was  not  permitted  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  labors  and 
self-imposed  exile  here  in  the  wilds  of  North  America.  The  Indians 
were  here,  too,  as  well  as  abundant  game.  They  waited  until  Juchereau 
had  accumulated  a  large  stock  and  store  of  skins  and  furs,  of  every  kind 
and  description,  and  selecting  a  convenient  occasion  and  with  united 
forces,  they  made  an  attack  upon  him  and  his  men  and  killed  almost  all 
of  them  and  seized  the  whole  of  their  valuable  collections.  Juchereau 
himself  escaped  and  reached   Kaskaskia,  then  but  recently  established, 


22 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

where  it  is  said  he  died  in  1705.  The  news  of  what  had  befallen  him 
was  carried  to  all  parts  of  New  France.  It  reached  Mobile  and  all  the 
southern  country  and  much  was  said  about  expeditions  to  the  Wabash 
to  check,  if  possible,  the  depredations  of  the  Indians. 

In  another  part  of  the  book  is  a  list  of  the  old  maps  showing  a  fort 
at  this  place.  One  rather  peculiar  feature  of  the  matter  is  that  one  or 
two  of  the  old  maps  made  some  years  before  Juchereau  came  here  show  a 
fort  on  the  point  between  the  rivers. 

Father  Gabriel  Merest  wrott  from  "Cascaskias,  November  9,"  17 12, 
to  Father  Germon  as  follows: — 

"About  eighty  leagues  below,  on  the  side  of  the  river  Illinois,  that 
is  to  say,  on  the  eastern  side,  (for  the  general  course  of  the  Missis- 
sippi is  from  north  to  south),  is  the  mouth  of  again  another  fine  river 
called  Ouabache.  It  comes  from  the  east-northeast  and  has  three 
branches,  one  of  which  extends  to  the  country  of  the  Iroquois,  another 
towards  Virginia  and  Carolina,  and  the  third  even  to  the  Miamis.  It 
is  said  that  silver  mines  have  been  found  there.  This,  however,  is 
certain,  that  there  are  in  that  country  mines  of  lead  and  tin,  and  should 
some  miners  by  profession  come  to  make  excavations  in  these  lands,  they 
might  perhaps  find  mines  of  copper  and  other  metals. 

"Besides  these  large  rivers  which  water  the  country  to  such  an  extent, 
there  are  also  a  great  number  of  those  which  are  smaller.  It  is  on  one  of 
these  rivers  that  our  village  is  situated,  on  the  eastern  side,  betw^een  the 
rivers  Ouabache  and  Pekitanoui  (Missouri).  We  are  in  the  38th  degree 
of  latitude.  Large  numbers  of  buffaloes  and  bears  can  be  seen,  which 
feed  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Ouabache.  The  flesh  of  the  young  bears 
is  a  very  delicate  meat." 

Father  Xavier  de  Charlevoix^s  journey  was  from  Quebec,  via 
Montreal,  Niagara,  Erie,  Detroit,  Michilimackinac  and  Lake  Michigan 
to  St.  Joseph,  thence  a  portage  to  the  Kankakee,  thence  by  the  Illinois 
and  the  Mississippi  to  Kaskaskia.  Here  at  "Kaskasquias,"  October 
20,  1 72 1,  he  writes  as  follows: — 

"The  lOth  of  October,  about  nine  in  the  morning,  after  we  had  gone 
five  leagues  on  the  Mississippi,  we  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri, 
which  is  north  northward  and  south  southeast.  I  believe  this  is  the 
finest  confluence  in  the  world.  The  two  rivers  are  much  of  the  same 
breadth,  each  about  a  half  league;  but  the  Missouri  is  by  far  the  most 
rapid,  and  seems  to  enter  the  Mississippi  like  a  conqueror,  through  which 
it  carries  its  white  waters  to  the  opposite  shore  without  mixing  them. 
Aftervi'-ards  it  gives  its  color  to  the  Mississippi,  which  it  never  loses 
again,  but  carries  it  on  down  to  the  sea. 

"It  was  about  the  loth  of  November,  at  sun  set,  that  I  embarked  on 
the  little  river  of  Kaskaskia.  I  had  but  two  leagues  to  the  Mississippi ; 
nevertheless,  I  was  obliged  to  encamp  at  about  half  way;  and  the  next 
day  I  could  make  but  six  leagues  on  the  river. 

"The  15th,  the  wind  changed  to  the  north  and  the  cold  increased. 
We  went  four  leagues  to  the  south;   then  we  found   that  the   river 


FRENCH   EXPLORERS  AND   MISSIONARIES  23 

turned  four  leagues  to  the  north.  Immediately  after  this  reach,  we 
passed  on  the  left  by  the  river  Ouabache,  by  which  one  may  go  on  up  to 
the  Iroquois  when  the  waters  are  high.  Its  entrance  into  the  Mississippi 
is  a  little  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  league  wide.  There  is  no  place  in 
Louisiana  more  fit,  in  my  opinion,  for  a  settlement  than  this,  nor  where 
it  is  of  more  consequence  to  have  one.  All  the  country  that  is  watered 
by  the  Ouabache  (Ohio)  and  by  the  Ohio  (Wabash)  that  runs 
into  it,  is  very  fruitful.  It  consists  of  vast  meadows,  well  watered, 
where  the  wild  buffaloes  feed  by  thousands.  Furthermore,  the  com- 
munication with  Canada  is  as  easy  as  by  the  river  of  the  Illinois,  and  the 
way  much  shorter.  A  fort  with  a  good  garrison  would  keep  the  savages 
in  awe,  especially  the  Cherokees,  who  are  at  present  the  most  numerous 
nation  of  this  continent." 

Accompanying  Charlevoix's  journal  is  a  map,  upon  which  is  found 
a  mark  or  X  on  the  point  between  the  two  rivers,  and  the  words,  "A 
ruined  old  fort." 

Father  Vivier,  in  a  lengthy  letter  of  November  17,  1750,  written  no 
doubt  at  Kaskaskia,  and  to  another  Father  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  spoke 
of  the  need  of  a  fort  at  this  place  as  follows: — 

"The  distance  from  the  Akansas  to  the  Illinois  is  nearly  one  hundred 
and  fifty  leagues;  through  all  that  extent  of  country  there  is  not  a 
single  settlement.  Nevertheless,  to  ensure  us  its  possession,  it  would  be 
well  if  we  had  a  good  fort  upon  the  Ouabache,  the  only  place  where  the 
English  can  enter  the  Mississippi." 

Before  getting  too  far  along,  let  me  note  here  how  this  immediate 
region  of  country  was  dealt  with  a  century  or  more  ago. 

iLLmois  Land  Company  of  1773. — "On  the  5th  of  July,  1773,  at  a  public  coun- 
cil held  at  the  village  of  Kaskaskia,  an  association  of  English  traders  and  mer- 
chants, who  styled  themselves,  'the  Illinois  Land  Company,'  obtained  from  ten 
chiefs  of  the  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  and  Peoria  tribes,  a  deed  for  two  very  large  tracts 
of  land  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  Mississippi.  The  first  tract  was  bounded  thus: 
'Beginning  at  the  mouth  of  the  Huron  creek,  called  by  the  French  the  river  of 
Mary,  being  about  a  league  below  the  mouth  of  the  Kaskaskia  river;  thence  a 
northward  of  east  course,  in  a  direct  line  back  to  the  Hilly  Plains,  eight  leagues, 
or  thereabouts,  be  the  same  more  or  less;  thence,  the  same  course,  in  a  direct  line 
to  the  Crabtree  Plains,  seventeen  leagues,  or  thereabouts,  be  the  same  more  or  less; 
thence,  the  same  course,  in  a  direct  line  to  a  remarkable  place,  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Big  Buffalo  Hoofs,  seventeen  leagues,  or  thereabouts,  be  the  same 
more  or  less;  thence,  the  same  course,  in  a  direct  line  to  the  Salt  Lick  creek, 
about  seven  leagues,  be  the  same  more  or  less;  thence,  crossing  the  said  creek, 
about  one  league  below  the  ancient  Shawanees  town,  in  an  easterly  or  a  little 
to  the  north  of  east  course,  in  a  direct  line  to  the  river  Ohio,  about  four  leagues, 
be  the  same  more  or  less ;  then  down  the  Ohio,  by  the  several  courses  thereof i 
until  it  empties  itself  into  the  Mississippi,  about  thirty-five  leagues,  be  the  same 
more  or  less;  and  then  up  the  Mississippi,  by  the  several  courses  thereof  to  the 
place  of  beginning,  thirty-three  leagues,  or  thereabouts,  be  the  same  more  or  less.' 
The  purchase  of  these  territories  was  made  for  the  Illinois  Land  Company,  by 
a  certain  William  Murray,  who  was  then  a  trader  in  the  Illinois  country;  and 
from  the  deed  of  conveyance  it  appears  that  the  price  which  the  Indians  by 
agreement  received,  was  two  hundred  and  fifty  blankets,  two  hundred  and  sixty 
strouds,  three  hundred  and  fifty  shirts,  one  hundred  and  fifty  pair  of  stroud  and 


24 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

half  thick  stockings,  one  hundred  and  fifty  stroud  breechcloths,  five  hundred 
pounds  of  gunpowder,  four  thousand  pounds  of  lead,  one  gross  of  knives,  thirty 
pounds  of  Vermillion,  two  thousand  gunflints,  two  hundred  pounds  of  brasskettles, 
two  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco,  three  dozen  gilt  lookingglasses,  one  gross  gun 
worms,  two  gross  awls,  one  gross  of  firesteels,  sixteen  dozen  of  gartering,  ten 
thousand  pounds  of  flour,  five  hundred  bushels  of  Indian  corn,  twelve  horses, 
twelve  horned  cattle,  twenty  bushels  of  salt,  twenty  guns,  and  five  shillings  in 
money.  The  Indian  deed  was  attested  by  ten  persons,  and  recorded,  on  the  2d 
of  September,  1773,  in  the  office  of  a  notary  public  at  Kaskaskia." — Dillon's  His- 
tory of  Indiana,  pages  102-104. 

Soldiers'  Reservation  of  1787. —  By  an  act  of  congress  under  the  articles  of 
Confederation,  dated  October  22,  1787,  a  tract  of  land  was  "reserved  and  set  apart 
for  the  purpose  of  satisfying  the  military  bounties  due  the  late  army,"  and  the 
same  was  described  as  follo%vs: 

"Beginning  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  river;  thence  up  the  Mississippi  to  the 
river  Au  Vause  (Big  Muddy)  ;  thence  up  the  same  until  it  meets  a  west  line 
from  the  mouth  of  the  little  Wabash;  thence  easterly  with  the  said  west  line 
to  the  great  Wabash;  thence  down  the  same  to  the  Ohio,  and  thence  with  the 
Ohio  to  the  place  of  beginning." 

Indian  Reservation  of  1803. — %  the  Indian  treaty  of  August  13,  1803,  made 
by  William  Henry  Harrison  and  the  Kaskaskia  tribe  of  Indians,  which  tribe 
represented  the  remnants  of  the  Mitchigamias,  Cahokias  and  Tamarois,  respec- 
tively, the  following  described  territory  was  set  apart  to  the  said  tribes: — 

"Beginning  at  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi ;  thence  up  the  Ohio 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Saline  Creek,  about  twelve  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the 
Wabash ;  thence  along  the  dividing  ridge  between  the  said  creek  and  the  Wa- 
bash until  it  comes  to  the  general  dividing  ridge  between  the  waters  which  fall 
into  the  Wabash  and  those  which  fall  into  the  Kaskaskia  river;  and  thence  along 
the  said  ridge  until  it  reaches  the  waters  which  fall  into  the  Illinois  river; 
thence  in  a  direct  course  to  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  river,  and  thence 
down  the  Mississippi  to  the  beginning."  Then  follows  the  sixth  article  of  the 
treaty,  which  is  in  the  following  words: —  "As  long  as  the  lands  which  have 
been  ceded  by  this  treaty  shall  continue  to  be  the  property  of  the  United  States, 
the  said  tribe  shall  have  the  privilege  of  living  and  hunting  upon  them  in  the 
same  manner  as  they  have  hitherto  done."  This  treaty  is  an  exceedingly  inter- 
esting one,  considered  in  the  light  of  what  had  already  taken  place  and  what 
followed  its  conclusion,  concerning  the  Indians. 

I  need  scarcely  say  that  almost  all  of  the  foregoing  quotations  in  this 
chapter  are  from  Thwaites'  Jesuit  Relations.  I  have  consulted  also  the 
following  named  authors  and  have  also  quoted  from  some  of  them  here 
and  elsewhere: — Bancroft,  Parkman,  Winsor,  Shea,  Hinsdale,  Spears, 
and  others  writing  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi.  I  may  here  also 
state  that  I  have  had  occasion  to  consult  many  state  histories,  among 
them  Edwards,  Reynolds,  Ford,  Breese,  Davidson  and  Stuve,  Blancherd, 
Moses,  Lusk,  Dillon's  Indiana,  Collins'  Kentucky,  Houck's  Missouri, 
and  English's  Conquest  of  the  Northwest.  Much  that  I  have  said,  not 
of  a  strictly  local  nature,  pertains  to  such  general  history  of  the  country 
that  citation  of  authors  or  other  bibliographical  reference  seems  almost 
out  of  place. 


^.7^.-.^  ^^  /^^.^  ^^.^"^^  ^^^^^'^^—^ ^ 


X^  i^t^^yditM.  y>^i^  t^A^  i^^  y^^T^ 


First  Government  Survey,  1807 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  ILLINOIS  TERRITORIAL  GOVERNMENT 

IT  would  be  interesting  to  stop  here  and  speak  of  the  contest  in  and 
out  of  congress  to  prevent  the  division  of  the  Indiana  territory  and 
the  organization  of  the  territory  of  Illinois,  and  of  the  public  men 
who  lost  or  won  in  the  heated  controversy ;  but  space  will  not  admit  of 
this  being  done. 

President  Madison,  March  7,  1809,  appointed  Nathaniel  Pope,  of 
the  territory  of  Louisiana,  the  secretary  of  the  territory ;  and  April  24th, 
he  appointed  Ninian  Edwards,  of  Kentucky,  governor  of  the  territory. 
The  governor  and  the  judges  promulgated  thirteen  laws  in  1809,  twelve 
in  1 8 10,  and  five  in  1811.  March  14,  1812,  he  ordered  an  election  to  be 
held  the  second  day  of  April  to  enable  the  people  to  express  their  prefer- 
ence as  to  whether  the  government  should  pass  from  the  first  to  the  second 
grade;  and  the  vote  resulting  in  favor  of  the  change,  on  the  14th  of 
September,  he  ordered  an  election  to  be  held  October  8th,  9th  and  lOth, 
for  the  purpose  of  choosing  a  delegate  to  congress,  members  of  the 
legislative  council  and  representatives  to  the  general  assembly,  of  the 
territory,  Shadrack  Bond  was  chosen  delegate  to  congress,  Pierre 
Menard,  Benjamin  Talbot,  William  Biggs,  Samuel  Judy,  and  Thomas 
Ferguson,  members  of  the  legislative  council,  and  George  Fisher,  Alex- 
ander Wilson,  Philip  Trammel,  John  Grammer,  Joshua  Oglesby,  Jacob 
Short,  and  William  Jones,  memljers  of  the  territorial  house  of  representa- 
tives. Menard  became  president  of  the  council  and  John  Thomas  its 
secretary;  George  Fisher  became  speaker  of  the  house  and  William  C. 
Greenup  its  clerk.  The  first  territorial  legislature  or  general  assembly 
convened  at  Kaskaskia  November  25,  1812,  and  continued  in  session 
thirty-two  days  and  enacted  thirty-seven  laws.  The  salary  of  the  Attor- 
ney General,  B.  M.  Piatt,  was  $175  per  annum;  those  of  the  Auditor, 
H.  H.  Maxwell,  and  of  the  Treasurer,  John  Thomas,  were  $150  each. 
The  pay  of  the  members  of  the  legislature  was  $2.00  per  day.  The 
second  session  of  this  assembly  convened  November  8,  1813,  and  enacted 
thirteen  laws,  among  them  one  to  prevent  the  sale  of  liquor  to  the 
Indians,  and  another  to  prevent  the  emigration  of  negroes  and  mulattoes 
into  the  territory. 

The  second  territorial  legislature  convened  on  the  14th  of  November, 
18 14.  It  made  a  contract  with  Nathaniel  Pope  for  revising  the  laws 
of  the  territory.  It  also  passed  an  act  for  the  incorporation  of  Shawnee- 
town,  and  an  act  authorizing  the  payment  of  $50,00  for  every  hostile 
Indian  killed.     On  the  24th  of  December,  it  adjourned  until  September 


26 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

4,  1815.  Re- assembling,  it  continued  in  session  thirty-nine  days  and 
enacted  thirty-eight  laws,  one  of  which  was  to  tax  billiard  tables  $150 
per  annum ;  another  to  punish  counterfeiters  of  bank  bills  by  fining  and 
whipping,  and  if  they  were  unable  to  pay  the  fines,  they  were  to  be  sold 
by  the  sheriff  at  public  sale  to  satisfy  the  judgments.  The  third  legis- 
lature sat  from  December  2,  18 16,  to  January  14,  181 7,  and  then  took  a 
recess  to  December  ist.  It  enacted  twenty-eight  laws  at  that  session. 
One  was  to  establish  a  bank  at  Shawneetown  with  a  capital  of  $300,000. 
Indiana  had  prohibited  non-resident  lawyers  from  practicing  in  their 
courts;  and  in  retaliation,  this  legislature  passed  an  act  imposing  a  fine 
of  $200.00  upon  any  Indiana  lawyer  found  practicing  in  the  territory, 
and  a  fine  of  $500.00  against  the  judge  who  knowingly  allowed  the 
Indiana  lauyer  to  practice  in  his  court.  At  this  time  there  was  no  very 
friendly  feeling  between  the  people  of  the  two  territories  because  of  the 
contest  concerning  the  division  of  the  territory  of  Indiana.  The  second 
session  convened  December  ist,  and  enacted  fifty  laws,  among  them  the 
only  law  it  ever  enacted  relating  to  Cairo,  the  act  to  incorporate  the 
City  and  Bank  of  Cairo.  It  passed  both  houses  of  the  legislature  and 
was  approved  by  the  Governor  January  9,  1818.  The  final  adjourn- 
ment of  the  legislature  took  place  January  12,  1818,  three  days  after 
the  enactment  of  this  law  concerning  Cairo.  The  state  was  admitted 
into  the  Union  December  3,   18 18. 

The  map  of  Illinois  of  1822,  by  H.  S.  Tanner,  Philadelphia,  found 
at  the  beginning  of  Chapter  I,  shows  very  well  the  advancement  of  the 
state  at  about  the  time  of  its  admission  into  the  Union. 

We  have  thus  given  considerable  space  to  our  Illinois  territorial 
government,  extending  from  February  3,  1809,  to  December  3,  18 18, 
a  period  of  nine  years  and  ten  months.  It  is  a  meager  outline,  but  it 
shows  something  of  the  general  condition  of  what  is  now  our  part  of 
the  state,  which  was  indeed  about  all  there  was  then  of  it.  In  1809,  her 
population  was  about  11,000  and  in  18 18  it  had  increased  to  nearly 
50,000.  The  territory  had  become  the  third  state  of  the  five  states 
contemplated  by  the  ordinance  of  1787. 

We  cannot  take  leave  of  this  subject  without  some  suitable  refer- 
ence to  Kaskaskia. 

Cairo  owes  it  existence  chiefly  to  Kaskaskia  men.  Let  me  name 
some  of  them:  Shadrack  Bond,  Elias  Kent  Kane,  Henry  S.  Dodge, 
Michael  Jones,  Warren  Brown,  Edward  Humphrys,  Sidney  Breese, 
David  J.  Baker,  and  Miles  A.  Gilbert.  All  that  was  done  for  and 
about  Cairo,  in  181 7  and  in  18 18,  was  done  at  Kaskaskia;  and  the  very 
first  movement  toward  a  second  attempt  to  build  a  city  here  was 
started  at  Kaskaskia  in  1835  and  1836,  and  chiefly  by  Breese,  Baker 
and  Gilbert.  Kaskaskia  was  the  seat  of  almost  all  of  the  earlier  opera- 
tions of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  although  its  directors 
met  now  and  then  at  Alton.  That  company's  banking  operations  under 
the  act  of  January  9,  18 18,  were  carried  on  there  and  as  late  as  1839, 


ILLINOIS  TERRITORIAL  GOVERNMENT  27 

1840  and  1 84 1.  The  Bank  of  Cairo,  under  said  act,  issued  its  notes 
there  which  recited  on  their  face  that  they  were  issued  at  Kaskaskia. 
See  two  of  its  bank  bills  on  another  page. 

But  we  must  not  say  more  about  Kaskaskia,  about  which  so  much 
has  been  said  and  written.  One  volume  could  not  contain  it ;  for  of  and 
concerning  it,  Frenchmen,  Englishmen  and  Americans  have  told  their 
stories.  Like  the  Indian  tribe,  from  which  it  took  its  name,  it  has 
quite  ceased  to  exist.  The  abrading  waters  of  the  great  river,  near 
to  which  it  stood  so  long,  cared  quite  as  little  for  the  Frenchmen  and 
the  Englishmen  as  for  the  Indian,  and  the  old  French  post  and  town, 
standing  midway  between  Quebec  and  New  Orleans,  is  now  scarcely 
more  than  a  mere  landmark  in  the  center  of  a  nation  of  almost  one 
hundred  millions  of  people.  It  was  one  of  the  goals  of  the  adventurers, 
explorers,  and  missionary  priests  on  their  long  and  slow  journeys  be- 
tween those  distant  French  cities.  It  was  indeed  a  resting-place,  and 
the  society  and  customs,  the  religion  and  amusements,  they  there  found 
were  to  them  like  a  return  to  their  own  beloved  France.  It  was 
civilized  existence  again,  darkly  shaded,  it  may  be,  by  the  aboriginal 
life  that  everywhere  breathed  over  the  face  of  the  vast  country.  But 
to  those  who  dwelt  there,  and  perhaps  more  to  the  sojourners  for  a 
time,  the  shadow  of  Indian  life  served  only  to  brighten  by  contrast  the 
short  and  narrow  strip  of  country  which  there  skirted  the  great  river. 

In  the  examination  of  our  real-estate  and  court  records  here  in 
Cairo,  I  have  found  Nathaniel  Pope's  name  so  often  mentioned,  that 
I  trust  it  will  not  be  regarded  as  entirely  out  of  place  to  devote  a 
page  or  two  to  this  able  man. 

He  was  born  in  Louisville  in  1774;  resided  at  St.  Genevieve  for  a 
while,  and  in  the  year  1808  removed  to  Kaskaskia;  became  the  first 
secretary  of  the  territory;  was  the  territory's  delegate  in  congress  from 
1 81 6  to  18 18;  was  the  first  United  States  judge  in  the  state  and  held 
the  position  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  at  the  home  of  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Yeatman,  at  St.  Louis,  January  23,  1850.  General  Pope 
of  the  late  Civil  War  was  a  son  of  the  former.  Judge  Pope  is  well 
known  as  the  compiler  of  an  edition  of  our  statutes. 

We  make  this  reference  to  Judge  Pope  chiefly  to  show  that  to  him 
the  people  of  the  state  are  indebted  for  the  extension  of  the  state's 
northern  boundary  some  sixty  miles  north  of  the  southern  extremity  of 
Lake  Michigan.  The  5th  article  of  the  ordinance  of  1787  bounded  our 
state,  or  the  third  of  the  proposed  states,  by  the  Mississippi,  Ohio  and 
Wabash  rivers  and  by  a  line  from  the  Wabash  to  the  north  boundary 
line  of  the  territory  and  made  its  north  boundary  line  "an  east  and  west 
line  drawn  through  the  southern  bend  or  extremity  of  Lake  Michigan." 

When  the  territorial  government  applied  for  admission  into  the  Union, 
Pope  saw  that  the  new  state  was  to  be  shut  out  from  the  great  lake, 
and  hence  he  determined  to  do  what  he  could  to  have  congress  extend 
the  north  boundary  line  of  the  state  some  distance  further  northward 
and  thereby  secure  to  the  state  the  great  commercial  advantages  which 


28 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

he  was  sure  the  lake  would  afford  it.  This  desire  and  effort  led  to  much 
controversy  and  engendered  much  bad  feeling.  The  ordinance,  like 
many  other  great  instruments  after  it,  was  called  a  compact  between 
the  states  and  beyond  the  reach  of  congress,  just  as  it  was  afterwards 
urged  that  the  6th  article  of  the  ordinance  relating  to  slavery  was  a 
compact;  but  congress  believed  it  was  not  bound  by  the  lines  described 
in  the  ordinance,  and  accordingly  extended  the  north  line  of  the  state 
northward  to  the  latitude  of  42  degrees  and  30  minutes,  or  for  the 
distance  of  about  60  miles.  It  added  about  four  millions  and  a  half 
acres  of  the  finest  land  to  Illinois.  Wisconsin  was  not  a  state  then ;  but 
its  people  to  this  day  regard  that  act  of  congress  as  a  most  flagrant 
breach  of  law  and  justice. 

Prior  to  1818,  there  were  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Ohio,  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Tennessee  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  four  or  five  small 
settlements,  villages  or  clusters  of  houses,  bearing  the  following  names, 
Trinity,  America,  Caledonia,  Napoleon  and  Wilkinsonville,  and  last  of 
all  Fort  Massac.  Trinity,  America,  Napoleon  and  Wilkinsonville  have 
long  since  ceased  to  exist,  and  now  few  persons  are  living  who  remember 
anything  about  them.  Dr.  Reuben  Gold  Thwaites,  in  the  year  1894, 
made  a  trip  down  the  Ohio  from  Pittsburg  to  Cairo,  described  in  his 
"On  the  Storied  Ohio"  and  stopped  at  what  was  once  the  place  or  site 
of  Wilkinsonville.  It  was  named  after  General  James  Wilkinson, 
whom  history^  connects  closely  with  Col.  Aaron  Burr's  scheme  or  sup- 
posed scheme  to  set  up  a  separate  government  in  the  southwest.  Dr. 
Thwaites  took  occasion  to  remark  that  he  found  no  one  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  old  site  who  had  ever  heard  of  Wilkinsonville.  He  stopped 
there  but  a  few  hours,  we  suppose,  and  could  have  seen  but  a  very  few 
persons;  but  had  he  talked  with  many  he  would  probably  have  found 
no  one  who  could  have  told  him  much  about  the  old  post.  Still  it  is 
somewhat  remarkable;  for  Wilkinsonville  is  found  in  almost  all  of  the 
old  maps  and  gazetteers  and  in  all  of  the  Ohio  River  guides  up  to  1838 
and  probably  later.  Burr  passed  there  in  1805,  and  again  December 
31,  1806.  President  Jefferson,  in  a  message  to  the  senate  and  house, 
January  28,  1807,  informed  them  that  Burr  had  passed  Fort  Massac 
December  31st  with  ten  boats  navigated  by  six  men  each.  Burr  and 
his  boats  and  men  passed  this  point  no  doubt  on  the  first  day  of  January, 
1807.  He  left  them  somewhere  down  the  river  in  the  state  of  Mississippi 
and  sought  to  escape;  but  he  failed  in  this  and  was  arrested  and  taken 
to  Richmond  and  there  tried  for  treason  and  acquitted. 

General  Jackson  with  fifteen  hundred  men  in  boats  left  Nashville 
on  the  lOth  day  of  January,  1813,  and  reached  here  January  27th, 
where  they  were  detained  three  days  by  ice  in  the  Mississippi.  His 
men  were  Tennesseeans  and  Kentuckians  chiefly,  and  all  of  them  rifle- 
men by  long  practice  as  hunters.  The  rivers  were  then  low.  Game  of 
all  kinds  abounded  on  the  point  here  and  in  Kentucky  and  Missouri. 
Jackson  always  maintained  excellent  discipline,  but  he  also  knew  very 
well  there  was  such  a  thing  as  too  much  strictness  with  troops  like 


ILLINOIS  TERRITORIAL  GOVERNMENT         29 


those  freedom-loving  hunters  of  the  two  states  mentioned;  and  there 
is  no  doubt  but  that  during  their  three  days'  staj'  here  the  sharp  crack 
of  the  rifle  was  heard  everywhere  over  the  point  and  across  the  river 
in  Kentucky  and  that  their  camps  here  or  over  there  were  bountifully 
supplied  with   game. 

But  Indians  were  here  also.  This  part  of  the  state  had  been  set 
apart  to  them  by  the  Indian  treaty  of  August  13,  1803.  Most  of  them 
had  gone  from  these  parts  of  the  country,  but  now  and  then  bands  of 
them  passed  through  the  country  and  often  their  movements  were  at- 
tended with  the  severest  cruelties  to  the  people  of  the  settlements  which 
lay  in  the  line  of  their  travels.  One  of  their  most  atrocious  deeds  took 
place  on  the  Ohio  just  south  of  Cache  River,  where  old  Trinity  was 
soon  thereafter  established.  It  was  on  the  9th  day  of  February,  1813, 
that  ten  Indians,  coming  along  the  Ohio  from  the  Wabash  country, 
reached  the  three  or  four  families  resident  just  south  of  Cache  River. 
They  represented  themselves  as  friendly  to  the  white  settlers  and  were 
kindly  received  and  given  the  food  they  desired.  Seeing  that  they  w^ere 
stronger  than  the  few  settlers  there  and  the  latter  suspecting  nothing, 
they  suddenly  made  an  attack  upon  them  and  cruelly  murdered  in  the 
most  inhuman  manner  five  or  six  of  them.  One  or  two  of  the  white 
men  escaped,  and  the  Indians,  fearing  that  others  might  soon  come  to 
the  relief  of  the  settlers,  hurried  away,  although  a  very  considerable 
number  of  persons  assembled  for  their  capture;  but  they  crossed  the 
river  and  escaped  from  their  pursuers.  For  some  little  time  before  this 
and  a  few  years  afterwards  such  occurrences  were  not  infrequent  in  the 
Illinois  territory.  One  of  the  most  notable  was  the  Fort  Dearborn 
massacre  of  August  15,  18 12. 

We  mention  these  events  to  show  something  of  the  condition  of  the 
country  just  preceding  the  admission  of  the  state  into  the  Union  and  the 
commencement  of  the  work  of  establishing  a  city  here  at  this  place. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    CITY    OF    CAIRO    OF    1818 

THE  act  of  Congress  of  May  18,  1796,  provided  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  surveyor  general,  and  prescribed  fully  how  surveys  of 
the  public  lands  should  be  made  and  for  the  sale  thereof  at  not 
less  than  $2.00  an  acre.  This  price  continued  until  its  reduction  to  $1.25 
an  acre  by  the  act  of  April  24,  1820,  which  discontinued  sales  on  credit. 
Rufus  Putnam  was  the  first  surveyor  general  and  held  the  office  from 
1797  to  1803.  Jared  Mansfield  succeeded  him  and  filled  the  position 
from  1803  to  1813.  He  was  succeeded  by  William  Rector,  who  held 
the  position  from  1813  to  1824.  In  1807,  Mansfield,  in  pursuance  of 
the  said  act,  contracted  with  Archie  Henry,  a  deputj^  surveyor,  for  the 
survey  of  our  township  Seventeen  South,  Range  One,  West  of  the 
Third  Principal  Meridian,  and  Henrj^  surveyed  it  that  year  and  reported 
the  acreage  at  6288.08  acres  or  something  more  than  one-fourth  of  a 
full  township,  which  contains  23,040  acres.  Henry  also  surveyed  the 
township  next  north  of  us  and  the  one  east  of  that,  but  in  the  year  18 10, 
It  is  interesting  to  look  at  these  old  surveys  of  one  hundred  years  ago 
as  they  were  then  mapped  or  platted,  and  to  see  how  the  river  boundaries 
now  compare  with  the  old  river  boundaries  as  then  given.  William 
Rector  surveyed  Township  Sixteen,  Range  Two,  West,  and  he  also 
surveyed  and  platted  those  four  hundred  acre  tracts  of  land  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, known  long  years  ago  as  the  Flannary,  McElmurry  and  Standlee 
tracts.  To  these  tracts  of  land  reference  will  be  more  fully  made  here- 
after. 

The  Third  Principal  Meridian. — Our  system  of  land  surveys, 
sometimes  called  the  Rectangular  System,  was  first  authorized  by  an 
act  or  ordinance  of  congress,  under  the  articles  of  the  Confederation, 
of  the  date  of  May  20,  1785.  It  is  not  known  who  planned  or  devised 
the  system,  but  the  members  of  the  committee  which  reported  the  act 
were  Jefferson,  Williamson,  Howell,  Gerry  and  Reas.  The  act  was 
amended  in  some  particulars  but  chiefly  by  the  act  of  May  18,  1796, 
which  prescribed  fully,  as  above  stated,  how  the  surveys  of  the  public 
lands  should  be  made.  Meridian  and  base  lines  were  established  in 
pursuance  of  the  above  acts.  The  first  principal  meridian  is  the  dividing- 
line  between  Ohio  and  Indiana;  the  second  starts  at  the  mouth  of 
Little  Blue  River  in  Indiana  and  coincides  with  longitude  86°  28' ;  the 
third  starts  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  and  coincides  with  longitude 
89°  10'  30",  and  the  fourth  starts  at  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River 
and  coincides  with  longitude  90°  29'  56". 

30 


CAIRO 


Scale  in  Peel 

---T  -  ■,  - 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO  OF    i^i8 31 

This  third  principal  meridian  may  be  said  to  start  at  the  middle  of 
the  Mississippi  River  and  pass  northward  about  six  or  seven  hundred 
feet  east  of  the  Halliday  Hotel,  leaving  probably  fifty  to  seventy-five 
acres  of  land  lying  east  of  the  line  and  below  the  Halliday.  It  crosses 
the  Ohio  River,  cutting  some  fifty  to  seventy-five  acres  off  Kentucky 
near  the  Illinois  Central  railroad  bridge;  and  again  crossing  the  Ohio, 
it  passess  a  little  west  of  Mound  City  and  on  northward,  through  or 
near  to  Carbondale,  Centralia,  Decatur,  Bloomington  and  Rockford, 
and  reaches  the  Wisconsin  line  about  eighty  miles  west  of  Chicago. 
This  meridian  very  nearly  divides  equally  the  territorial  area  of  the 
state.  The  base  line  from  which  the  townships  are  numbered  north 
and  south  passes  across  the  state  a  few  miles  south  of  Centralia.  From 
that  line  southward  and  adjoining  the  meridian  on  the  west  are  seven- 
teen townships.  The  seventeenth,  or  last  one,  is  the  one  in  which  the 
City  of  Cairo  is  situated ;  and  from  that  base  line  northward  and  on  the 
same  side  of  the  meridian,  are  fort\'-six  townships,  the  forty-sixth,  or 
last  one,  having  for  its  north  line  the  south  line  of  the  state  of  Wis- 
consin. We  thus  see  that  there  is,  from  Cairo  to  the  Wisconsin  line,  a 
line  of  sixty-three  townships,  each  six  miles  square,  making  the  distance 
from  the  center  line  of  the  Mississippi  River,  Cairo's  boundary  on  the 
south,  to  the  Wisconsin  line,  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight  miles. 
This  is,  approximately,  the  actual  distance. 

Although  this  township  and  others  were  surveyed  and  platted  so 
early  in  the  last  century,  the  Indian  titles  had  to  be  extinguished  before 
the  lands  could  be  offered  for  sale.  Kaskaskia  was  made  a  land  office 
by  the  act  of  March  26,  1804. 

By  the  treaty  of  September  25,  1818,  made  by  Governor  Ninian 
Edwards  and  Augustus  Chouteau,  with  the  Kaskaskia  tribe  of  Indians, 
and  also  the  Peorias,  which  latter  tribe  set  up  claim  to  the  territory  or 
to  an  interest  therein,  all  Indian  rights  and  titles  were  relinquished  in 
the  territory  above  described.  Among  the  witnesses  to  this  treaty  is  the 
name  of  Reuben  H.  Walworth,  who  afterguards  became  the  great  chan- 
cellor of  the  State  of  New  York.  By  the  act  of  May  10,  1800,  sales 
of  public  lands  were  to  be  made  upon  the  following  terms: — One- 
fourth  within  forty  days,  one-fourth  within  two  years,  one-fourth 
within  three  years,  and  one-fourth  within  four  years,  after  the  sale  or 
purchase;  and  in  default  for  one  year  after  the  last  payment  became 
due,  the  land  was  to  be  sold  at  public  sale,  and  if  less  than  what  was 
due  was  bid,  the  lands  were  to  "revert  to  the  United  States." 

Before  the  formal  and  full  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  titles  by  the 
treaty  of  September  25,  18 18,  namely,  on  the  26th  and  28th  days  of 
July,  181 7,  John  G.  Comegys,  of  Baltimore,  purchased  at  the  land 
office  at  Kaskaskia,  at  which  Michael  Jones  and  Warren  Brown  were, 
respectively,  the  register  and  receiver,  the  South  fractional  halves  of  Sec- 
tions Fourteen  and  Fifteen,  fractional  Sections  Twenty-Two,  Twenty- 
Three  and  Twenty-Four,  the  North  fractional  half  of  Section  Twenty- 
Five,  the  North  half  of  Section  Twenty-Six,  and  the  North  East  frac- 


32  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

tional  Quarter  of  Section  Twenty-Seven,  all  in  Township  Seventeen 
South,  range  One  West,  and  all  amounting  to  Eighteen  Hundred  acres, 
"or  thereabouts."  Comegys  made  the  first  two  payments  upon  his  pur- 
chases, and  his  executors  made  the  third  payment,  and  for  default  in  the 
making  of  the  last  payment,  the  lands  were,  no  doubt,  offered  for  sale, 
and  for  want  of  purchasers  for  the  amounts  due,  were  forfeited  and 
reverted  to  the  United  States.  These  lands  were  afterwards,  namely, 
in  August  and  September,  1835,  again  purchased  and  patents  issued  to 
the  purchasers  thereof,  who  were  Sidney  Breese,  Miles  A.  Gilbert  and 
Thomas  Swanwick. 

Very  little  is  now  known  concerning  the  correspondence,  the  con- 
ferences and  other  negotiations,  which  led  up  to  the  first  attempt  to 
establish  a  city  here  at  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
rivers.  Sufficient,  however,  is  known  to  authenticate  fully  the  following 
account  of  the  undertaking. 

The  junction  of  the  two  rivers  had  long  been  looked  upon  as  a  geo- 
graphical point  of  very  great  importance.  Its  commercial  features, 
great  as  they  were,  were  regarded  as  fully  equaled  by  the  advantages  it 
possessed  for  a  military  post  or  center,  commanding  so  fully  a  widely 
extended  country  eastward,  westward,  northward  and  southward. 
This  was  the  view  taken  by  the  early  explorers,  and  since  their  time, 
by  every  traveler  and  writer  who  has  spoken  or  written  about  the  place. 
The  strong  and  often  extravagant  language  used  may  be  seen  by  refer- 
ence to  some  of  the  old  circulars  issued  by  the  proprietors  frorn  time  to 
time.  It  is  the  language  of  those  whom  we,  in  these  modern  times,  call 
promoters;  but  it  is  the  language,  also,  of  a  great  many  men  in  nowise 
interested,  and  whose  language  the  promoters  merely  quoted. 

But  while  the  geographical  position  fully  justified  all  that  was  said 
of  it,  its  topographical  features  were  largely  the  reverse;  so  much  so, 
indeed,  that  the  local  disadvantages  seemed  to  outweigh  the  advantages 
of  the  geographical  position.  The  difficulty  was  obvious  enough;  a 
great  central  position,  great  rivers  coming  together,  draining  an  empire 
in  extent,  but  almost  annually  claiming  dominion  over  the  intervening 
land  they  themselves  had  created.  It  was  the  product  or  output  of  the 
rivers,  and  very  naturally  could  not  anywhere  have  an  elevation  above 
that  to  which  the  rivers  themselves  rose.  The  commingling  waters 
could  lift  nothing  higher  than  themselves;  but  the  process  had  gone  on 
for  centuries,  and  had  not  the  hand  of  man  intervened,  it  would  have 
gone  on,  no  doubt,  until  the  "made  land"  would  have  risen  well  nigh 
as  high  as  the  high-water  mark  of  recent  years,  and  there  would  have 
been  little  need  of  protective  embankments  or  levees.  There  is  no  telling, 
of  course,  what  the  shifting  Mississippi  might  have  done  with  the  site 
it  had  so  largely  created;  but  excepting  that  contingency,  every  over- 
flow would  have  added  to  the  elevation  of  the  land,  and  in  time  the 
same  would  have  reached  the  high-water  line  of  the  present  annual 
floods.  But  it  is  quite  useless  to  conjecture,  for  that  great  river  seems 
now  quite  as  hard  for  us  to  know  and  comprehend  as  it  was  for  the 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO  OF   1818  33 


Indians,  who  told  Joliet  and  Marquette  of  the  Manitous  which  here 
and  there  infested  its  waters. 

The  reasons  for  and  against  occupjang  the  site  were  no  doubt  often 
considered.  They  were  so  equally  balanced  that  nothing  was  done. 
But  it  was  not  thus  to  go  on  always;  for  the  time  came  when  a  few 
men  reached  a  working  belief  that  the  advantages  overbalanced  the 
disadvantages ;  and  hence  we  are  now  brought  to  the  time  when  the 
work  of  establishing  a  city  here  was  actually  entered  upon. 

It  seems  to  have  been  left  to  John  G.  Comegys,  from  the  distant 
state  of  Marjdand  and  of  the  city  of  Baltimore,  to  conclude  that  there 
was  more  to  justif}^  than  to  forbid  an  attempt  to  start  a  city  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  two  rivers.  He  must  have  been  well  know^n  in  St.  Louis, 
for  we  find  that  he  was  one  of  the  witnesses  to  the  Indian  treaty  made 
at  St.  Louis,  in  the  territory  of  Louisiana,  August  31,  1809.  This  treaty 
was  signed  by  Peter  Chouteau,  and  one  hundred  and  ten  chiefs  and 
warriors  of  the  Great  and  Little  Osage  Nation  of  Indians.  The  title 
of  the  treaty  is"^n  these  words. 

Articles  of  treaty;  made  and  concluded  at  Fort  Clark,  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  Missouri,  about  five  miles  above  Fire  Prairie,  in  the  territory  of  Louisiana, 
the  loth  day  of  November,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  One  Thousand  Eight  Hundred 
and  Eight,  between  Peter  Choteau,  Esq.,  agent  for  the  Osage,  and  specially  com- 
missioned and  instructed  to  enter  into  the  same  by  his  excellency,  Meriwether 
Lewis,  Governor,  and  Superintendent  of  Indian  affairs  for  the  territory  afore- 
said, in  behalf  of  the  United  States  of  America,  of  the  one  part,  and  the  chiefs 
and  warriors  of  the  Great  and  Little  Osage,  for  themselves  and  their  nations, 
respectively,  on  the  other  part." 

We  make  this  quotation  chiefly  to  show  that  Meriwether  Lewis,  of 
the  celebrated  Lewis  &  Clark  expedition,  was  no  doubt  an  acquaintance 
and  friend  of  John  G.  Comegys.  Confirmatory  of  this  is  the  fact  that 
at  the  sale  of  Comegj^s'  personal  effects  by  the  executors  of  his  will  at 
Baltimore  in  18 19,  two  miniatures  were  sold,  one  that  of  Comegys,  apd 
the  other  having  upon  it  the  name  "M.  Lewis." 

The  Act  to  Incorporate  the  City  and  Bank  of  Cairo. — The 
incorporators  named  in  this  act  of  the  territorial  legislature,  of  January  9, 
1818,  were  John  G.  Comegys,  Thomas  H.  Harris,  Thomas  F.  Herbert, 
Charles  Slade,  Shadrack  Bond,  Michael  Jones,  Warren  Brown,  Edward 
Humphre3^s  and  Charles  W.  Hunter.  Comegys  was  a  resident  of  Balti- 
more; Bond,  Jones,  Brown,  and  Humphreys,  of  Kaskaskia;  Hunter  of 
St.  Louis;  and  Harris,  Herbert  and  Slade,  of  Virginia,  Harris  of  Rich- 
mond, and  Slade  and  Herbert  of  Alexandria.  We  give  here  short 
biographical  sketches  of  three  or  four  of  these  men,  commencing  with 
Comegj^s  who  seems  to  have  been  the  leader  in  the  first  attempt  to 
establish  a  city  here. 

John  Gleaves  Comegys  was  a  native  of  Kent  County,  Maryland, 
across  the  bay  from  Baltimore.  He  was  probably  of  German  descent. 
The  family  resided  near  an  arm  of  the  bay  into  which  Chester  River 
runs,  and  in  a  region  called  "Quaker  Neck."     He  was  a  descendant  of 


34  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Cornelius  Comegj'S,  who,  w-ith  his  whole  family  and  one  Hans  Hanson, 
was  naturalized  bj'  a  special  act  of  the  general  assembly  of  ]\lar\land  in 
the  year  1672,  one  year  before  Joliet  and  Marquette  made  their 
journey  down  the  IVIississippi  and  passed  this  point  the  last  of  June, 
1673.  He  was  probably  a  Quaker  in  early  life.  There  is  nothing  in 
his  will  to  show  that  he  had  ever  been  married.  He  seems  to  have  come 
West  ver>-  early  in  1800;  for  he  is  shown  to  have  been  carn,-ing  on 
business  in  Baltimore  and  St.  Louis  some  years  before  he  applied  for 
his  Cairo  charter  in  18 18.  In  a  city  director}-  of  Baltimore  for  1807, 
we  find  C.  &  J.  Comegv^s,  Merchants,  No.  190  Baltimore  Street;  and 
in  the  directories  for  18 12,  18 14  and  1816,  we  find  Comeg^'s  &  Falconer, 
Merchants,  at  the  same  number;  and  in  the  directories  for  1818  and  1819 
we  find  the  same  firm,  Comeg^-s  &  Falconer,  IMerchants,  No.  8th  St. 
Charles  Street.  In  Billon's  Annals  of  St.  Louis.  1804-182 1,  page  112, 
under  the  heading  of  "Business  Notices,"  the  firm  name  of  Falconer  & 
Comeg}-s  is  given,  and  it  is  stated  that  they  had  just  received,  April  19, 

1809,  a  general  assortment  of  merchandise.     On  page  116,  February-  22, 

1810,  it  is  stated  that  the  firm  was  closing  out;  and  on  page  118.  it  is 
further  noted  that  the  firm  had  been  dissolved  and  that  the  style  of 
the  new  firm  would  be  J.  G.  Comegj-s  &  Company.  ]\Ir.  Falconer,  of 
Sixth  Street,  in  our  cit}',  now  deceased,  was,  no  doubt,  of  the  same 
familv  of  Falconers  of  Maryland. 

The  day  of  his  death  is  not  given,  but  the  will  bears  date  January 
23,  1819.  and  was  probated  Februan,-  9th,  following.  The  probate 
of  the  will  was  just  one  year  and  a  month  after  the  granting  of  the 
Cairo  charter  to  him  and  the  other  incorporators,  January  9,  1818. 

The  incorporators  named  in  the  said  act  of  Januar>^  9,  1818,  lost  no 
time  in  proceeding  with  their  undertaking;  and  accordingly,  upon  the 
14th  day  of  that  month  they  made  a  trust  deed  conve\-ing  to  H_enr>'  S. 
Dodge  and  Elias  K.  Kane,  of  Kaskaskia,  the  same  lands  precisely  as 
those'' described  in  the  said  act  of  the  9th  of  Januar^^  The  grantors  in 
the  deed  were  Michael  Jones.  Shadrack  Bond  and  Achsah  Bond,  his 
wife,  Warren  Brown  and  Edward  Humphreys,  all  of  Kaskaskia,  in 
the  territon,-  of  Illinois,  John  G.  Comegv's,  of  Baltimore,  Thomas  H. 
Harris,  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  Thomas  F.  Herbert  and  Charles  Slade, 
of  Alexandria,  Virginia,  Charles  W.  Hunter  and  Martha  W.  Hunter, 
his  wife,  of  St.  Louis,  in  the  territon,-  of  ^Missouri.  (See  book  A  5:  B, 
pp.  121  to  126.)  . 

The  men  above  named  were  in  and  by  the  said  trust  deed  associated 
together  for  the  purpose  of  laying  out  the  City  of  Cairo,  and  by  the 
charter  were  given  banking  privileges.  The  deed  itself  is  a  very  lengthy 
one.  It  would  require  fifteen  or  twenty-  pages  of  this  book  to  give  it 
in  full.  It  seems  to  have  been  drawn  with  great  care  and  with  many 
of  the  details  and  repetitions  found  in  the  old  instruments  of  a  hundred 
years  ago.  It  conveys  the  lands  above  described  which  are  spoken  of 
therein  as  eighteen  hundred  acres  "or  thereabouts,"  and  it  recites  that 
the  Trustees  accepted  the  trust,  which  required  them  to  convey  to  the 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO  OF   1818 35 

President  and  Directors  of  the  Bank  of  Cairo,  provided  for  in  the  act 
of  incorporation,  so  much  of  the  said  land  as  might  be  required  to 
be  divided  into  lots;  and  the  said  President  and  Directors  were  required 
to  hold  the  land  so  conveyed  to  them  in  trust  for  the  purchasers  of  lots. 
The  incorporators  reserved  the  right  to  survey  and  plat  so  much  of  the 
land  as  they  deemed  necessarj^,  and  the  Trustees  were  to  reconvey  to 
them  all  lands  not  required  to  be  conveyed  to  the  said  President  and 
Board  of  Directors.  An  examination  of  the  act  of  incorporation  will 
show  how  important  the  banking  features  of  the  enterprise  were  re- 
garded. It  was,  no  doubt,  supposed  that  the  bank,  by  means  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  trust  deed  and  other  securities  it  might  obtain,  would  be 
able  to  raise  the  necessary^  funds  with  which  to  construct  protective  em- 
bankments and  otherwise  improve  the  site  of  the  proposed  city. 

Comeg\'s  and  the  persons  associated  with  him,  or  some  of  them,  no 
doubt,  visited  this  point  and  became  more  or  less  familiar  with  its 
location  and  condition.  He  may  have  made  a  trip  or  two  by  steamboat 
from  Pittsburg  on  his  way  from  Baltimore  to  St,  Louis.  Steamboats 
had  come  into  use  on  the  two  rivers  a  few  years  before  that  time.  He 
had  made  many  overland  trips,  no  doubt,  between  Baltimore  and  St. 
Louis  during  the  years  1805  to  181 8.  But  whatever  knowledge  these 
men  may  have  had  of  the  site  here,  Comeg}-s  seems  to  have  gone  to  Kas- 
kaskia,  or  to  have  been  there,  on  the  26th  and  28th  days  of  July,  181 7; 
for  on  those  daj^s  he  made  the  purchase  hereinbefore  spoken  of. 

He  and  his  associates  had  made  these  purchases  as  the  first  necessary 
step  in  their  undertaking  to  establish  a  city  here.  Having  obtained  the 
land  for  a  site,  they  seem  to  have  lost  no  time  in  arranging  to  obtain 
legislative  authorit}^  for  doing  what  they  could  not  well  do  without  it. 
Their  headquarters  were  Kaskaskia,  the  capital  of  the  territor}',  and 
where  the  territorial  legislature  was  to  convene  in  the  December  of  the 
year  in  which  these  purchases  were  made,  the  year  181 7.  As  we  have 
elsewhere  already  stated,  this  legislature,  on  the  9th  day  of  January, 
18 1 8,  enacted  the  first  law  that  ever  had  any  special  reference  to  this 
place  or  point  at  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers. 

A  reference  to  the  prospectus  of  the  proprietors  will  show  that  their 
survey  and  plat  of  the  cit)^  were  made  as  the  next  and  very  necessary 
step  in  their  undertaking.  It  seems  that  a  ALijor  Duncan  did  this 
work  for  them.  The  plat  or  map  was  lithographed  in  Baltimore  early 
in  1 81 8,  by  Cone  &  Freeman.  According  to  this  plat,  city  lots  were 
offered  for  sale,  if  indeed  any  at  all  were  offered,  as  recited  in  the  very 
first  lines  of  the  prospectus.  The  map  is  an  interesting  one,  indeed. 
The  surveyor  and  maker  of  the  map  no  doubt  saw  the  plat  and  survey 
made  by  Arthur  Henn'  in  1807.  There  may  have  been,  however, 
another  survey  by  the  Government  authorities  prior  to  1818.  This  is 
spoken  of  in  one  or  two  places.  A  copy  of  the  map  introduces  this 
chapter.  It  will  be  seen  that  all  the  streets,  except  Ohio  and  Mississippi, 
run  at  right  angles  and  are  eighty  feet  wide.  The  blocks  are  divided 
by  alleys  running  North  and  South;  and  between  Delaware  and  Carolina 
Streets  is  a  public  square  lying  one-half  north   and  one-half  south  of 


36  HISTORY    OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Main  Street,  There  are  four  markets,  each  occupying  a  full  block;  No. 
I,  bounded  by  Boon,  Harris,  Edward  and  Hunter;  No.  2,  by  Connecti- 
cut, Harris,  New  York  and  Hunter;  No.  3,  by  Louisiana,  Madison, 
Indiana  and  Jefferson,  and  No.  4,  by  Connecticut,  Madison,  Choteau 
and  Jefferson.  There  are  290  blocks.  The  blocks  fronting  on  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  Streets  are  not  rectangular  like  the  others,  but  vary  in 
shape  and  size  as  those  streets  follow^  the  river  lines.  Each  block  con- 
tains sixteen  lots,  except  the  blocks  between  Humphreys  and  North 
Streets,  which  contain  twenty  lots  each.  The  lots  are  66  by  120  feet. 
There  are  4032  lots,  and  the  numbering  is  from  the  northwest  corner 
on  the  Mississippi  to  the  southeast  corner  on  the  Ohio.  The  names  and 
lengths  of  the  streets  are  as  follows : 

East  and  West  streets: — South,  Franklin,  Monroe,  Madison,  JefiFerson,  Herbert, 
Brown,  Adams,  Main,  Washington,  Jones,  Bond,  Harris,  Hunter,  Slade,  Humph- 
reys and  North.  These  seventeen  East  and  West  streets,  running  from  river  to 
river,  vary  somewhat  in  length,  the  shortest  being  6100  feet  and  the  longest,  the 
most  southern,  8400  feet.  It  will  be  observed  that  Comegys  must  have  super- 
vised the  making  of  this  plat  or  map ;  for  eight  of  the  streets  bear  the  names  of 
his  eight  co-incorporators  under  their  act  of  January  9,  1818,  but  no  street  is 
given  his  own  name.  This  circumstance  exhibits  a  trait  of  Comegys'  character 
that  speaks  for  itself. 

The  North  and  South  streets  are:  Orleans,  on  the  extreme  southeast;  next. 
Clay,  Clark,  Piatt,  Howard,  Wirt,  Choteau,  Kentucky,  Virginia,  Tennessee, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  New  York,  Connecticut,  Vermont,  Delaware,  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Indiana,  Louisiana,  Alabama,  Michigan,  Edwards, 
Boon,  Breckinridge,  Pope,  Ames,  and  Short.  These  thirty  North  and  South  streets 
vary  in  length  from  400  to  10,150  feet.  Nine  of  them  in  the  central  part  of 
the  town,  are  each  10,150  feet  or  almost  two  miles.  Then  along  the  Mississippi 
River  is  Mississippi  Street,  along  the  Ohio  River  is  Ohio  Street,  and  they  with 
South  and  North  streets  make  one  continuous  street  around  the  city  of  the  length 
of  seven  miles. 

Shadrack  Bond  is,  of  course,  well  known  as  the  first  Governor  of 
the  State,  and  little  need  be  said  of  him  here.  He  died  at  Kaskaskia 
April  12,  1832,  and  was  there  buried;  but  in  1881,  the  remains  of  him- 
self and  of  his  wife  were  removed  to  Chester,  and  the  State  there  erected 
a  monument  inscribed  as  follows: 

"In  memory  of  Shadrack  Bond, 

The  first  Governor  of  the  State  of  Illinois; 

Born  at  Fredericktown,  Maryland,  November  24,  A.  D.  1778. 

Died  at  his  residence  near  Kaskaskia,  April  12,  A.  D.  1832. 

In  recognition  of  his  valuable  public  services, 

this  monument  was  erected  by  the  State  A.  D.  1883. 

Governor  Bond  filled  many  ofiices  of  trust  and  importance, 

all  with  integrity  and  honor." 

Governor  Ford  in  his  history  says: — "Bond  was  the  delegate  to 
Congress,  and  while  there  his  portrait  was  painted  by  Gilbert  Stuart. 
It  is  now  in  the  Historical  Library  at  Chicago."  The  picture  of  Gov- 
ernor Bond  found  elsewhere  is  from  that  painting. 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO  OF    1818  37 


Charles  Slade  was  an  Englishman,  and  came  with  his  parents  to 
Alexandria,  Virginia.  In  1816,  he  and  his  brothers,  Richard  and 
Thomas,  came  to  Illinois  and  resided  at  or  near  what  is  now  Carlyle, 
in  Clinton  County.  He  became  a  very  prominent  man  in  the  politics 
of  the  State,  and  at  the  election  for  congressman  in  August,  1832,  was 
the  successful  candidate.  The  opposing  candidates  were  Governor 
Edwards,  Sidney  Breese,  Charles  Dunn,  and  Henry  L.  Webb.  He  took 
his  seat  in  Congress  in  December,  1833,  and  upon  its  adjournment  in 
March,  1834,  after  spending  some  months  in  the  East,  started  home, 
but  was  taken  ill  of  cholera,  and  died  near  Vincennes  July  11,  1834. 
These  few  facts  are  taken  from  an  excellent  biographical  sketch  by  Dr. 
John  F.  Snyder,  of  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Society.  See  pages  207 
to  210,  Publication  No.  8,  1903,  of  the  said  Society, 

Michael  Jones  and  Shadrack  Bond  were,  respectively,  the  Register 
and  Receiver  at  the  Land  Office  at  Kaskaskia,  which  Vv-as  established  by  ) 
the  act  of  Congress  of  March  26,  1804.  Jones  and  E.  Backus,  the 
latter  of  whom  was  the  Receiver  there  at  an  early  date,  passed  upon 
the  claims  to  lands  and  reported  them  for  confirmation  under  the  act 
of  March  3,  1791.  They  investigated  and  reported  favorably  the 
claims  of  the  Flannarys,  the  McElmurrays,  and  of  Standlee  to  those 
tracts  of  land  lying  on  the  Mississippi  River  just  below  Sante  Fe,  The 
survej^s  are  numbered  525,  526,  527,  528,  529,  and  684  and  the  claims 
529,  530,  531,  680,  681,  and  2564.  William  Rector  made  the  surveys 
and  this  is  noted  on  the  government  plat  of  Township  Sixteen,  South, 
Three  West  of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian,  made  in  18 10.  Jones 
was  adjutant  of  the  Randolph  County  regiment  in  the  war  of  1812, 
and  a  member  from  Gallatin  County  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 
that  framed  our  constitution  of  1818.  He  was  a  member  also  of  the 
first  State  Legislature  and,  it  seems,  received  a  vote  or  two  for  United 
States  senator. 

Warren  Brown  was  also  a  Federal  officer  of  Kaskaskia  and  a  portion 
of  the  time  the  Receiver  of  Public  Moneys  there.  The  will  of  John  G. 
Comegj'S  recites  the  payment  by  Comegys  to  Brown,  as  Receiver  of 
Public  Moneys,  upon  his  purchases  of  July  26  and  28,  18 17.  Edward 
Humphreys  is  spoken  of  by  Governor  Reynolds  as  a  man  of  fine  educa- 
tion and  an  excellent  teacher.  Charles  W.  Hunter  was  a  resident  of 
St.  Louis.  He  seems  to  have  dealt  extensively  in  lands  in  southern 
Illinois,  and  our  records  at  the  court-house,  both  before  and  after  1820, 
show  many  conveyances  to  and  from  him.  Of  the  other  two  incor- 
porators, Thomas  H.  Harris  and  Thomas  F.  Herbert,  we  know  very 
little.     They  and  Slade  had  resided  in  Virginia. 

Eltas  Kent  Kane,  one  of  the  two  trustees  in  the  trust  deed  of  January 
14,  1818,  was  a  native  of  New  York  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  College. 
From  New  York  he  Avent  first  to  Carthage,  Smith  County,  Tennessee, 
in  1 813,  and  in  the  following  year  he  removed  to  Kaskaskia.    He  was  a 


38  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

member  of  the  convention  which  framed  our  constitution  of  1818.  He 
is  spoken  of  as  the  controlling  spirit  of  that  body,  and  it  is  said  that 
many  of  its  most  important  provisions  and  in  general,  the  whole  type 
and  character  of  the  instrument  were  due  to  him.  He  was  our  first 
Secretary  of  State,  and  was  appointed  by  Governor  Bond.  He  was  for 
a  time  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Republican  Advocate  at  Kaskaskia. 
He  was  twice  chosen  United  States  senator  and  was  a  member  of  the 
senate  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  our  other  senator,  John  McLean,  of 
Shawneetown ;  and  in  the  congressional  debates  for  the  year  1829  will 
be  found  his  short  but  very  appropriate  address  upon  the  death  of  his 
colleague,  which  occurred  October  14,  1829.  Kane  died  while  senator 
and  at  Washington,  December  11,  1835.  Quite  a  full  biographical 
sketch  of  him  by  Col.  George  W.  Smith,  of  Chicago,  is  found  in  the 
Report  of  the  Illinois  State  Bar  Association  for  1895.  Many  notices 
of  him  are  also  to  be  found  in  the  publications  of  the  Illinois  State  His- 
torical Society. 

Henry  S.  Dodge,  the  other  trustee  or  commissioner  in  the  said  deed 
of  trust  of  January  14,  18 18,  was  also  a  lawyer,  and  a  resident  of  Kas- 
kaskia and  a  prominent  public  man.  He  was  the  father  of  Mrs.  Helen 
K.  Dodge  Edwards,  who  was  born  at  Kaskaskia  in  the  year  18 19,  and 
who  died  on  the  i8th  day  of  March,  1909,  in  her  ninetieth  year,  at 
Springfield.  She  was  the  widow  of  Judge  Benjamin  S.  Edwards,  a 
son  of  Governor  Ninian  Edwards,  who  was  long  one  of  the  most 
prominent  men  of  Springfield  and  of  the  central  part  of  Illinois. 


--^ 


N 


CHAPTER  V 

Cairo's  site  and  place  from  i8i8  to  1836 

NOW  taking  leave  of  the  City  of  Cairo  of  18 18,  let  us  note  some 
of  the  important  events  which  took  place  in  the  state  during  this 
period,  from  18 18  to  1836, 

During  that  time  the  administrations  of  Governors  Bond,  Coles, 
Edwards,  and  Reynolds,  and  two  years  of  Governor  Duncan's  term, 
had  passed.  The  population  of  the  state  had  increased  from  55,211,  in 
1820,  to  about  325,000,  in  1836.  Alexander  County  was  the  first  new 
county  created  by  the  legislature.  It  was  established  by  the  act  of  March 
4,  1 8 19.  Fifty  other  counties  were  established  during  the  period  above 
mentioned.  The  county  seat  w^as,  by  the  act  of  January  18,  1833, 
removed  from  America,  on  the  Ohio  River,  to  Unity.  The  population 
of  the  county  in  1820  was  626  and  in  1830  it  was  1390.  The  attempt 
to  make  Illinois  a  slave  state  was  made  in  the  year  1826,  under  the 
administration  of  Governor  Coles.  A  number  of  the  men  who  had 
been  interested  in  the  first  Cairo  enterprise  were  very  prominent  in  that 
celebrated  contest.  Some  of  them  were  on  the  one  side  and  some  of  them 
on  the  other.  During  this  period  the  Black  Hawk  War  took  place. 
The  congressional  grant  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  the  Illinois 
and  Michigan  Canal  was  made  March  2,  1827,  and  on  March  2,  1833, 
the  state  was  authorized  to  substitute  a  railroad  for  the  canal.  At 
the  end  of  this  period,  the  state  was  worrying  along  with  this  canal 
enterprise.  No  railroads  were  built  or  undertaken.  The  first  railroad 
company,  the  Chicago  and  Vincennes,  was  incorporated  January  17, 
1835;  the  second,  the  Jacksonville  and  Meredosia,  February  5,  1835; 
and  the  third,  the  Belleville  and  Mississippi,  December  28,  1835.  Fifteen 
were  incorporated  in  January,  1836.  They  were  the  Alton  and  Shaw- 
neetown,  the  Alton,  Wabash  and  Erie,  the  Central  Branch  Wabash,  the 
Galena  and  Chicago  Union,  the  Illinois  Central,  the  Mississippi,  Spring- 
field and  Carrollton,  the  Mt.  Carmel  and  Alton,  the  Pekin  and  Tre- 
mont,  the  Pekin,  Bloomington  and  Wabash,  the  Rushville,  the  Shawnee- 
town  and  Alton,  the  Wabash  and  Mississippi,  the  Wabash  and  Missis- 
sippi Union,  the  Warsaw,  Peoria  and  Wabash,  and  the  Waverly  and 
Grand  Prairie. 

Contrary  to  what  has  often  been  claimed,  Comegys  and  his  associates 
never  thought  of  an  Illinois  Central  Railroad  nor  of  any  railroad  at  all. 
When  they  procured  their  charter  January  9,  181 8,  there  was  not  a 
railroad  an3rwhere  in  the  United  States  nor  a  charter  for  one.  If  there 
was  one  in  England  at  that  time,  it  would  not  there  nor  here  be  called 
a  railroad  now.  They  had  tram  roads  there  then,  but  it  was  not  until 
1825  that  a  locomotive  engine  was  used  to  draw  cars  on  a  railway 
track ;  and  it  was  four  or  five  years  later  that  the  first  railroad,  a  short 
one,  was  put  in  operation  in  this  country. 

39 


40 


HISTO^  ^   OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


This  period  of  eighteen  years,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  Cairo,  is  not  a 
blank  entirely,  but  it  is  so  nearly  one  that  little  need  be  said  of  it.  So 
little  had  been  done  under  the  Comegys  charter  of  January  9,  18 18, 
and  the  enterprise  seemed  so  wholly  abandoned,  that  public  attention 
was  withdrawn  from  the  place  as  seemingly  unworthy  of  further 
notice  or  attention.  The  great  rivers  came  more  and  more  into  use, 
and  the  keelboats  and  flatboats  were  in  a  large  degree  superseded  by 
steam  vessels  almost  everywhere  on  the  rivers ;  but  as  to  Cairo,  or  what 
had  been  planned  to  be  Cairo,  it  was  a  mere  wood-yard,  at  which  the 
steamboats  would  land  to  take  on  wood  for  their  furnace  fires,  and 
then  proceed  on  their  journeys  up  or  down  the  rivers.  Besides  these, 
there  were  trading  boats,  which,  while  trading  very  little  at  the  point, 
found  it  a  convenient  place  to  stop  for  a  time ;  for  while  there  was  no 
town  here,  or  anything  resembling  one,  the  point  was  a  central  one,  a 
kind  of  half-way  house,  at  which  one  would  tarry  a  while  before 
starting  out  on  a  long  river  journey  northward,  eastward,  or  southward. 
As  Major  Long  and  his  part)^  on  their  way  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  in 
1 8 19,  observed,  the  grandeur  of  the  place  fell  short  of  what  one  would 
suppose  or  expect  from  the  conjunction  of  two  such  mighty  rivers, 
draining  so  much  of  the  world's  surface;  but  while,  as  they  said,  there 
was  no  high  elevation  from  which  one. could  view  the  approaching  and 
uniting  rivers,  there  was  yet  that  strange  but  well-known  feeling 
arising  at  the  sight  of  the  giant-like  streams  coming  together  and 
uniting  their  forces  to  march  onward  to  the  sea.  It  was  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohio  River,  an  expression  in  daily  use  since  the  time  of  Joliet  and 
Marquette.  It  was  a  great  landmark,  measuring  off  almost  all  river 
distances  in  one  of  the  world's  greatest  valle5^s. 

The  failure  of  Cairo  encouraged  the  people  of  Trinity  and  America 
to  think  they  might  profit  by  the  supposed  proof  that  no  city  could  be 
built  at  the  point.  Especially  was  this  the  conclusion  at  America,  which 
at  once  set  up  the  claim  that  it  was  the  head  of  navigation  for  the 
two  great  rivers.  We  speak  of  this  somewhat  fully  in  the  chapter  on 
Alexander  County,  and  therefore  merely  mention  it  here.  Settlements 
multiplied  everywhere  and  grew  larger  and  stronger.  All  fear  of  the 
Indians  had  passed  away ;  but  the  remembrance  of  them  long  remained 
with  the  old  settlers,  who  took  real  pleasure  in  recounting  the  trying 
and  perilous  times  of  the  earlier  daj'^s  they  remembered  so  well.  In 
many  cases,  it  had  been  burned  into  their  memories,  and  it  was  a  kind 
of  relief  to  have  occasion  to  tell  about  it.  There  was  little  to  read. 
The  mails  were  like  angels'  visits,  and  neighbors  were  few  and  widely 
separated.  The  Indian  was  therefore  made  the  subject  of  conversation 
to  pass  away  the  long  winter  evenings ;  and  in  this  way  many  traditions 
had  their  origins.  They  are  almost  all  gone  now.  The  children's 
children  of  the  first  narrators  have  all  gone  their  way,  and  those  of  the 
later  generations  have  had  so  much  to  learn  and  know  that  there  remain 
to  us  now  only  the  pages  of  history. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    CITY    OF    CAIRO    FROM     1836    TO     1846 THE    ILLINOIS    CENTRAL 

RAILROAD  COMPANY  OF   1 836 THE  ILLINOIS  EXPORTING  COM- 
PANY— THE  CAIRO  CITY  AND  CANAL  COMPANY 

MANY  years  ago  I  was  in  the  office  of  Judge  Thomas  Hileman,  of 
Jonesboro,  Illinois,  for  whom  I  had  charge  of  important  litiga- 
tion, to  which  he  was  a  party,  I  was  looking  over  the  books 
in  his  office  and  saw  a  small  volume  which  had  the  signature  of  H.  W. 
Billings  on  the  first  blank  page  and  the  signature  of  D.  B.  Holbrook  on 
the  next  page.  Judge  Hileman  had  found  the  book  in  the  court-house 
yard,  where  it  had  been  dumped  with  a  barrel  of  old  papers  and 
documents.  The  book  had  probably  last  belonged  to  Mr.  Cyrus  G.  Si- 
mons, a  prominent  lawyer  of  Jonesboro  many  years  ago,  who  had  also 
practiced  law  in  Alexander  County  in  the  years  1840  to  1850,  and  repre- 
sented Union  count)^  in  the  legislature.  The  book  contained  twenty-five 
separate  documents  or  papers,  all  relating  to  Cairo.  They  were  twenty- 
five  small  pamphlets,  of  various  sizes,  bound  together.  Some  of  them 
were  printed  by  James  Narine,  No.  1 1  Wall  Street,  New  York  City,  in 
the  year  1837.     Its  table  of  contents  is  as  follows: 

DOCUMENTS  PRINTED  RELATING  TO  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

1.  Report  of  the  President  and  Treasurer  of  the  Illinois  Exporting  Company. 

2.  Resolutions  passed  by  the  Board  of   Directors  of  the  Illinois  Exporting 
Company. 

3.  Deed  of  Trust,  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  to  the  New  York  Life 
Insurance  and  Trust  Company. 

4.  Form  of  the  Bonds  issued  in  conformity  with  the  Deed  of  Trust. 

5.  Form  of  Release  Deed  from  the   New   York  Life  Insurance  and  Trust 
Compan3^ 

6.  Opinion  of  Chancellor  Kent  concerning  the  "Deed  of  Trust." 

7.  Prospectus  of  the  "Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company." 

8.  Charter  and  By-Laws  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company. 

9.  Form  of  Certificate  of  Stock  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company. 

10.  Map  of  Township  17  and  Route  of  Proposed  Canal. 

11.  Articles  of  Agreement,  Illinois  Central  Rail  Road  with  the  Cairo  City 
and  Canal  Company. 

12.  Articles  of  Agreement,  Illinois  Exporting  Company  with  the  Cairo  City 
and  Canal  Company. 

13.  Letter  from  James  Thompson,  and  Report  of  Survey. 

14.  Map  of  Survey  of  Township  17,  by  James  Thompson. 

15.  Letter   from   Wilson   Abel,   Esq.,   respecting   the   site   of    Cairo   and   the 
health  of  the  place. 

16.  Communication  from  George  Cloud,  Esq.,  on  the  same  subject. 

17.  Letter  from  Hon.  John  S.  Hacker  on  the  same  subject. 

18.  Sketch  of  the  City  of  Alton,  referred  to  in  the  "Prospectus  of  the  Cairo 
City  and  Canal  Company." 

41 


42  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

19.  Internal  Improvement  Law  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 

20.  Map  exhibiting  the  Rail  Roads  and  Canals  in  Illinois. 

21.  Charter  of  the  City  and  Bank  of  Cairo,  incorporated  1818. 

22.  Prospectus  of  the  City  of  Cairo,  published  by  the  proprietors,  A.  D.  1818. 

23.  Charter  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail  Road  Company. 

24.  Release  by  the  Central  Road  Company  to  the  State  of  Illinois. 

25.  Plat  of  the  "City  of  Cairo,"  as  laid  off  by  the  Prospectus,  A.  D.  1818. 

As  remarked  about  the  City  of  Cairo  of  18 18,  we  know  very  little 
about  the  conferences,  correspondence  and  other  negotiations  which 
lead  up  to  the  second  attempt  to  establish  a  city  here.  The  first  attempt 
seems  to  have  ended  with  the  death  of  Comegys.  The  lands  he  and  his 
associates  had  undertaken  to  purchase  from  the  government  and  for 
which  they  failed  to  pay  in  full,  had  been  forfeited,  as  provided  by  the 
act  under  which  the  purchases  were  made,  and  these  being  now  gone  or 
lost,  the  enterprise  was  wholly  abandoned. 

It  was  not  until  the  year  1835,  that  the  same  lands  again,  and  many 
others  in  the  township,  were  entered  and  paid  for  as  the  law  then 
required.  These  entries  were  for  the  same  purpose  as  that  which  lead 
to  the  entries  in  181 7. 

Following  these  entries,  came,  first  of  all,  the  incorporation  of  the 
first  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  January  16,  1836.  Two  days 
afterward,  the  legislature  incorporated  the  Illinois  Exporting  Company, 
whose  general  place  of  business  was  at  Alton  or  elsewhere  in  the  State 
as  might  be  agreed  upon.  The  incorporators  were  James  S.  Lane, 
Thomas  G.  Hawley,  Anthony  Olney,  John  M.  Krum,  and  D.  B.  Hol- 
brook. 

By  reference  to  the  first  of  these  two  acts,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
railroad  provided  for  was  to  "commence  at  or  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio  river  and  run  thence  North  to  a  point  on  the  Illinois  river  at  or 
near  the  terminus  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal."  Following  the 
incorporation  of  the  railroad  company  and  the  Exporting  Company, 
came  the  incorporation  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  March 
4,  1837,  the  incorporators  of  which  were  Darius  B.  Holbrook,  Miles 
A.  Gilbert,  John  S.  Hacker,  Alexander  M.  Jenkins,  Anthony  Olney, 
and  William  M.  Walker. — This  company  had  a  short  but  a  very  active 
career.  The  purchasers  of  those  lands  and  the  incorporators  of  this 
Company  saw  clearly  how  the  establishment  of  their  proposed  city 
depended  upon  a  railroad  connection  with  the  great  upper  country  of 
the  state;  and,  had  it  not  been  for  outside  interference,  their  under- 
taking might  have  fared  very  much  better.  But  the  spirit  of  enterprise 
that  was  in  them  was  also  in  many  other  persons  in  the  state  whose 
actions  they  could  not  control  and  who  thought  the  times  required  the 
state  to  enter  upon  a  system  of  railroad  construction  worthy  of  its 
extent  and  the  richness  of  its  soil.  One  railroad  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio  River  to  the  end  of  the  proposed  canal  on  the  Illinois  River  was  a 
very  small  part  of  what  it  was  thought  the  state  needed ;  and  accordingly 
on  the  27th  day  of  Februarj'^,  1837,  the  legislature  passed  the  celebrated 
act  entitled,  "An  Act  to  Establish  a  General  System  of  Internal  Im- 
provements." 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO   FROM   1836  TO   1846  43 

To  show  how  small  an  enterprise  was  that  of  the  Central  Railroad 
and  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  compared  with  that  under- 
taken by  the  state,  one  has  but  to  read  the  eighteenth  section  of  the  last- 
named  act.  It  provided  for  the  construction  of  eight  different  railroads 
and  for  the  improvement  of  five  of  the  rivers  of  the  state,  and  for  the 
establishment  of  a  public  mail  route  from  Vincennes  to  St.  Louis;  and 
for  these  purposes,  appropriations  amounting  to  ten  millions  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  were  made,  a  very  large  sum  for  those  early  days.  The 
two  hundred  thousand  dollar  appropriation  was  for  the  benefit  of 
counties  through  which  none  of  the  railroads  were  to  pass,  the  same  to 
be  expended  in  the  improvement  of  public  roads  therein.  The  seventh 
clause  of  the  section  is  in  these  words:  "The  Board  of  Commissioners 
of  Public  Work,  provided  for  by  this  act,  is  required  to  adopt  measures 
to  commence,  construct  and  complete,  within  a  reasonable  time,  a  rail- 
road from  the  City  of  Cairo,  at  or  near  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  rivers,  to  some  point  at  or  near  the  southern  terminus  of  the 
Illinois  and  Michigan  canal,  via  Vandalia,  Shelbjrville,  Decatur  and 
Bloomington,  and  from  thence  via  Savannah  to  Galena;  and  for  the  con- 
struction and  completion  of  the  said  railroad  and  appendages,  the  sum 
of  three  millions  and  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  is  hereby  appro- 
priated." 

The  situation  the  passage  of  this  act  produced  was  very  embarrassing 
to  the  Cairo  enterprise  and  its  Central  Railroad.  The  news  of  its  in- 
troduction into  the  legislature  must  have  produced  in  the  minds  of  those 
Cairo  people  a  state  of  feeling  little  short  of  consternation.  They  had 
their  acts  of  incorporation  and  could  well  say  that  the  act  for  their  rail- 
road was  a  contract  which  the  state  could  not  annul ;  and,  no  doubt,  they 
made  this  claim  and  argument  with  great  earnestness.  But  the  whole 
state  was  not  to  be  thwarted  by  the  comparatively  small  part  of  it  down 
here,  and  the  Cairo  people  were  soon  brought  to  terms ;  but  it  was  with 
promises  that  they  should  have  a  railroad  from  Cairo  and  about  on  the 
same  line  as  that  called  for  by  their  own  charter  of  January  16,  1836; 
but  it  was  not  to  be  their  railroad,  but  the  state's  alone.  On  the  27th 
day  of  June,  1837,  Alexander  M.  Jenkins,  David  J.  Baker,  D.  B.  Hol- 
brook  and  Pierre  Menard,  as  directors  of  the  railroad  company  and  in 
its  behalf,  released  to  the  state  their  rights  and  privileges  under  said  last- 
named  act,  but  on  the  condition  of  the  restoration  of  their  rights,  should 
the  state  repeal  the  act  of  February  27,  1837. 

The  operations  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  at  Cairo,  and 
the  work  of  the  state  in  and  about  the  construction  of  its  internal  im- 
provements and  especially  of  its  central  railroad,  are  so  connected 
together  that  it  is  not  easy  to  give  them  separate  treatment,  and  they 
will  hereafter  be  spoken  of  as  occasion  seems  to  require. 

This  period  of  ten  years  witnessed  not  only  another  attempt  at 
establishing  a  city,  but  it  was  characterized  by  such  energy  and  manage- 
ment as  gave  promise  of  great  and  most  favorable  results.  The  long 
slumber  of  eighteen  years  was  followed  by  activities  which  clearly  in- 


44  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

dicated  that  sleep  and  dreaming  were  to  disappear,  and  give  place  to  hard 
but  hopeful  work,  conducted  by  men  of  ability  and  enterprise  and 
supplied  with  means  adequate  to  the  great  undertaking.  The  men  and 
means  were  thought  to  be  all  that  the  situation  required,  and  hence  the 
hopes  of  all  who  were  in  anywise  interested  rose  as  correspondingly  high 
as  they  had  sunken  low  before. 

Darius  Blake  Holbrook,  of  New  York,  whom  we  may  call  the  suc- 
cessor of  John  G.  Comegys,  of  Baltimore,  was  the  man  in  charge  and 
what  was  done  and  probably  what  was  not  done  may  be  traced  with  a 
fair  degree  of  safety  and  justice  to  him.  He  has  been  criticised  much 
and  severely,  but  quite  unjustl}^  at  least  in  some  important  respects.  He 
seems  to  have  had  w-hat  may  be  called  a  local  or  home  policy  and  a 
foreign  policy  as  well,  the  former  of  which  does  not  seem  to  have  always 
been  such  as  the  real  interests  of  the  enterprise  required.  But,  inasmuch 
as  I  have  elsewhere  given  a  short  biographical  sketch  of  this  Cairo  man 
of  affairs,  I  will  now  proceed  to  relate  what  he  did  and  caused  to  be 
done  here  at  Cairo  during  this  period. 

The  building  of  the  city  and  of  the  Central  Railroad  was  intended  to 
be  largely  one  and  the  same  enterprise;  but  the  act  of  February  27, 
1837,  iri  relation  to  internal  improvements,  severed  the  two  completely, 
and  thereafter  the  city  and  the  road  had  to  proceed  as  separate  and 
wholly  independent  undertakings.  The  road,  or  its  construction,  was 
transferred  to  the  state,  whose  interest  in  the  city  was  more  or  less 
remote,  whereas,  before,  it  was  in  the  hands  of  men  and  a  company 
whose  chief  interest  was  perhaps  in  the  establishment  and  growth 
of  the  city.  In  proof  of  this  difference  in  interest,  we  may  here  state 
that  in  January,  1839,  while  work  on  the  road  was  going  forward 
between  Cairo  and  Jonesboro  and  on  many  other  parts  of  the  line,  a 
strong  effort  was  made  in  the  legislature  to  change  the  line  of  the  road 
from  Vandalia  southward  through  Salem,  Mt.  Vernon,  Frankfort, 
Benton  and  Vienna,  to  a  point  on  the  Ohio  River  near  Grand  Chain. 
The  citizens  of  these  towns  had  petitioned  the  legislature  concerning  the 
matter,  and  committees  were  appointed  to  investigate  and  report,  and 
January  28,  1839,  there  were  two  reports  in  the  senate,  a  majority 
report  in  favor  of  the  change,  and  a  minority  report  against  the  change; 
and  on  January  31,  1839,  a  strong  report  was  presented  in  the  House  by 
Mr.  Smith,  of  Wabash,  insisting  on  the  retention  of  the  line  on  which 
the  work  was  going  forward.  The  reading  of  these  reports  will  show 
what  an  important  matter  this  became.  Those  persons  favoring  the  new 
line  urged  strongly  that  the  site  here  was  most  undesirable,  and  especially 
did  they  dwell  upon  the  encroachments  of  the  Mississippi  River  on  the 
western  side  of  the  town.  They  cited  what  the  chief  engineer  of  the 
railroad,  Mr.  Jonathan  Freeman,  had  written  about  the  matter  in  his 
letter  to  Kinney  and  Willard  of  December  24,  1838.  Had  the  change 
been  made,  and  it  seemed  very  probable  for  a  time,  the  subsequent  acts 
of  the  legislature  incorporating  the  second  and  third  railroad  companies 
would  have  likely  required  the  same  line  to  be  followed.  It  was  this 
well-grounded  fear  on  the  part  of  Holbrook  and  those  acting  with  him 


</^ 


.S^s^::-.-^..^- 


-Y  ^^--^   ^  ^y  Si^^^^^Y  ^ /i^^^^s^C  &^^ 


^. 


^     '^r^^^-^ 


l'  -^ 

V 


'^yf-§^  ^ 


'mc 


Chancellor  Kent's  Letter 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO  FROM   1836  TO   1846  45 


that  led  them  to  insist  as  a  condition  to  their  surrenders  to  the  state,  one 
in  1837,  and  one  in  1849,  that  the  road  should  start  at  and  be  built  from 
Cairo.  Had  they  not  thus  insisted,  the  road  might  never  have  come 
here  at  all,  so  great  were  the  doubts  of  the  public  at  large  as  to  the 
security  of  the  Cairo  site.  But  it  was  held  here  stubbornly  and 
tenaciously,  and  to  the  great  and  lasting  credit  of  Holbrook,  which 
should  well  nigh  annul  all  the  criticisms  that  were  ever  made  against 
him.  He  is  indeed  a  wise  man  who  knows  well  just  what  he  can  and 
what  he  cannot  afford  to  surrender. 

This  act  of  February  27,  1837.  establishing  a  general  system  of 
public  improvements,  gave  no  name  to  the  state's  railroad,  nor  to  any  of 
the  others  for  the  construction  of  which  the  act  provided. 

The  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Public  Works,  provided  for  in  the 
act,  entered  upon  their  work,  and  the  road  was  commenced  at  and 
built  from  Cairo  and  most  of  the  grading  was  done  for  the  distance  of 
twenty-three  or  m.ore  miles.  A  bridge  across  Cache  River  was  partly 
constructed ;  and  so  on,  at  many  places  along  the  line,  all  the  way  up  to 
Galena.  The  line  of  the  road  in  Cairo  began  at  or  near  what  are  now 
the  freight  yards  of  the  present  company  between  Fourteenth  and 
Eighteenth  Streets,  where  the  state  purchased  ten  acres  of  ground  for 
station  or  depot  purposes.  From  this  point  above  Fourteenth  Street,  the 
road  extended  westvi^ard,  curving  northward,  and  passing  not  far  from 
the  present  court  house  and  on  through  what  is  now  the  east  side  of  St. 
Mary's  Park,  and  thence  on  northward  and  very  near  the  present  main 
line  of  the  road  and  crossing  Cache  River  not  over  one  hundred  feet 
west  of  the  present  railroad  bridge.  Parts  of  the  old  earth  embank- 
ment are  yet  visible  one  hundred  feet  or  less  west  of  the  present  road  and 
south  of  Cache  River  and  of  the  levee  of  the  Drainage  District.  In 
many  places  the  ridges  are  four  feet  high  and  all  of  them  overgrown 
with  trees. 

The  seven  commissioners  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works,  one  for 
each  judicial  district  of  the  state,  reported  from  time  to  time  as  the  work 
progressed  in  their  several  jurisdictions.  Elijah  J.  Willard,  of  Jones- 
boro,  was  the  commissioner  for  this  third  judicial  district.  His  report 
of  December  10,  1838,  sets  forth  many  matters  and  things  concerning 
the  work,  which  we  would  like  to  give  here  did  space  permit.  It  gives 
the  number  of  contracts  made  for  work  between  Cairo  and  Jonesboro, 
through  the  latter  of  which  the  road  was  to  run  instead  of  over  the 
site  of  the  present  city  of  Anna.  The  change  of  this  line  of  the  old 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  of  1837  to  the  present  line  of  1851,  running 
through  Anna,  occasioned  a  very^unfriendly  feeling  between  the  two 
places,  which  did  not  disappear  for  many  years  if  entirely  gone  now. 
The  report  gives  the  names  of  the  contractors  and  of  the  men  on  the 
work  and  to  whom  moneys  were  paid.  Among  them  were  Bryan 
Shannessy,  who  took  contracts  Nos.  i,  2  and  3,  covering  the  distance 
from  Cairo  to  a  point  beyond  Cache  River.  Mr.  Shannessy  is  spoken  of 
in  the  report  as  of  the  city  of  Alton.     Of  the  two  hundred  or  more 


46 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

names  on  Willard's  pay-roll,  many  of  them  would  be  remembered  by  a 
few  of  our  oldest  residents.  He  further  reports  that  early  in  1838, 
a  right  of  way  was  procured,  by  proceedings  in  our  Alexander  County 
Circuit  Court,  through  or  over  sections  25,  26,  23,  14,  11,  3  and  2,  in 
our  Township  17,  i  West,  "without  any  award  of  damages  to  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  land."  The  foregoing  information  was  obtained  from 
a  large  volume  of  reports  of  committees  of  our  legislature,  entitled 
"Reports  of  Session,  1 838-1 839."  One  of  the  exhibits  attached  to 
Willard's  report  is  the  long  letter  dated  at  the  Central  Railroad  office, 
Vandalia,  December  24,  1838,  and  directed  to  the  Hon.  William  Kinney 
and  Elijah  Willard,  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works.  This 
letter  as  above  stated  was  written  by  Jonathan  Freeman,  the  "Principal 
Engineer  Central  Railroad,"  and  he  therein  sets  forth  at  length  the 
difficulties  encountered  at  Cairo,  selected  as  it  had  been  as  the  southern 
terminus  of  the  road.  It  is  a  most  interesting  letter  and  would  be 
given  in  full  did  space  permit.  From  it,  those  of  our  public  men  who  had 
desired  to  have  the  road  come  to  the  Ohio  at  a  point  toward  Grand 
Chain,  obtained  many  of  their  arguments. 

This  work  was  begun  in  1838  and  continued  until  its  suspension 
throughout  the  state  and  the  final  abandonment  of  the  whole  scheme  of 
public  improvements  as  provided  for  in  the  said  act  of  February  27, 
1837,  ^rid  its  amendments.  The  act  was  finally  repealed  February  i, 
1840,  at  least  so  far  as  it  related  to  everj^  enterprise  provided  for  therein 
except  the  Central  Railroad.  This  short  period  of  time,  from  February 
27,  1837,  to  February  i,  1840,  constitutes  an  era  in  the  history  of  the 
state.  We  have  had  nothing  like  it  since.  It  quite  absorbed  the  atten- 
tion of  the  people  and  the  heated  discussions  it  engendered  continued 
for  years  after  the  scheme  had  broken  down.  A  general  state  of  semi- 
bankruptcy  prevailed,  especially  on  the  part  of  the  state,  and  repudiation 
was  talked  of  and  written  about  and  actually  favored  by  some  persons 
of  prominence  in  the  state.  See  chapter  6  of  Ford's  History  of  Illinois, 
and  chapters  37  and  38  of  Davidson  &  Stuve's  history. 

To  show  the  importance  of  the  Central  Railroad,  from  Cairo  to 
Galena,  above  all  the  other  seven  the  state  undertook  to  build,  we  may 
again  refer  to  the  effort  made  to  save  it  from  the  wreck  while  every- 
thing else  was  abandoned.  Col.  John  S.  Hacker,  the  grandfather  of 
our  Capt.  John  S.  Hacker,  and  a  member  of  the  legislature  at  that  time, 
urged  that  the  state  should  not  give  up  the  Central  Railroad  whatever 
of  its  other  enterprises  it  chose  to  abandon.  In  the  volume  of  reports 
of  committees  of  our  legislature,  of  1840-1841,  page  167,  will  be  found 
the  report  of  Col.  Hacker  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  internal 
improvements  made  to  the  legislature  January  11,  1841.  It  is  as 
follows : 

"In  selecting  the  Central  road,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  committee  have 
fixed  upon  the  most  important  one  in  the  whole  system  of  improvements. 
By  its  completion,  a  continuous  line  of  railroad  communication  will  be 
made  to  pass  through  the  very  heart  of  this  rich  state,  from  the  southern 
to  the  northern  limits  thereof.     The  southern  portion  of  the  state  will 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO  FROM  1836  TO  1846  47 

supply  the  whole  interior  with  the  greatest  abundance  of  timber  for  all 
time  to  come,  which  can  be  easily  and  cheaply  transported  on  the  rail- 
road. And  in  addition  to  other  advantages  which  will  be  conferred  upon 
the  citizens  of  Illinois,  the  building  of  a  large  commercial  city  at  Cairo 
would,  of  itself,  amply  repay  the  expenditures  of  money  which  must 
necessarily  attend  the  making  of  the  road. 

"Located  at  the  point  where  the  vast  waters  of  the  Ohio  and  Missis- 
sippi mingle  in  their  onward  course  to  the  ocean,  the  city  of  Cairo 
possesses  the  advantages  of  commercial  position  which  few  cities  of  the 
earth  can  rival.  Neglected  and  abused  as  it  has  been  heretofore,  it 
nevertheless  now  possesses  more  than  two  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
pays  into  the  State  Treasury  more  than  one  thousand  dollars  in  taxes. 
If  any  man  is  disposed  to  doubt  the  invaluable  profits  to  a  whole  state, 
derived  from  a  single  city  within  its  borders,  let  him  look  at  the  cities 
of  New  York,  New  Orleans,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Baltimore,  St.  Louis, 
&c.  Does  not  the  city  of  New  York  pay  into  the  State  Treasury  an 
amount  of  revenue  almost  equal  to  that  received  from  the  whole  state 
besides?  And  is  not  the  entire  character  and  importance  of  Louisiana 
dependent  upon  the  city  of  New  Orleans?  And  so  with  other  great 
cities.  And  then  the  incalculable  and  innumerable  advantages,  other 
than  those  of  mere  revenue,  will  be  readily  suggested,  upon  proper 
reflections;  one  of  which  is,  that  all  the  larger  class  of  steamboats, 
which  are  plying  between  New  Orleans  and  the  ports  on  the  upper 
Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers,  on  account  of  the  lowness  of  the  water,  and 
the  obstructions  by  ice,  are  now  discharging  their  cargoes  at  Cairo, 
to  be  forwarded  to  the  respective  places  of  destination  by  a  smaller  class 
of  boats. 

"We  have  no  great  commercial  emporium  in  Illinois;  and  without 
intending  to  draw  any  invidious  comparisons,  or  to  speak  disparagingly 
of  other  rising  towns  and  cities,  the  committee  must  express  their 
sincere  belief  that  Cairo  presents  as  many  flattering  prospects  of  future 
greatness  as  any  other  place  in  the  state.  History  illustrates  the  high 
estimate  which  rulers  have  placed  upon  cities,  in  all  countries ;  and  have 
we,  in  modern  times,  fallen  among  statesmen  and  philosophers  who  can 
see  nothing  in  the  example  of  past  ages  worthy  of  their  imitation  ?" 

It  was  not  until  after  this  surrender  of  their  railroad  enterprise  to 
the  state,  that  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  people  issued  their 
prospectus.  They  had  found  it  necessary  to  lay  aside  every  other  matter 
until  they  had  ascertained  what  was  to  be  done  concerning  a  central 
railroad.  They  had  to  give  up  their  own  railroad  scheme;  but  they 
succeeded  in  having  their  city  site  at  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers 
made  the  southern  terminus  of  the  state's  railroad. 

From  the  Prospectus  and  Engineers'  Report  relating  to  the  City  of 
Cairo,  printed  at  St.  Louis  by  T.  Watson  &  Son,  1839,  and  signed  by 
D.  B.  Holbrook,  president  of  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company,  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1839,  we  quote  three  or  four  pages  as  follows: — 


48 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

The  President  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  having  made  arrange- 
ments in  England  for  the  funds  requisite  to  carry  out  their  contemplated  im- 
provements in  the  City  of  Cairo,  on  the  most  extensive  and  liberal  scale,  it  is  nov? 
deemed  proper  to  give  publicity  to  the  objects,  plans,  and  other  matters  connected 
with  this  great  work,  in  order  that  every  one  who  feels  an  interest,  or  has  pride 
in  the  success  of  this  magnificent  public  enterprise,  may  properly  understand  and 
appreciate  the  motives  and  designs  of  the  projectors.  The  company  from  the 
commencement  determined  to  withhold  from  sale,  at  any  price,  the  corporate 
property  of  the  city,  until  it  should  be  made  manifest  to  the  most  doubting  and 
skeptical,  the  perfect  practicability  of  making  the  site  of  the  City  of  Cairo 
habitable.  This  being  now  fully  established  by  the  report  of  the  distinguished 
engineers,  Messrs.  Strickland  and  Taylor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  also  by  that  of 
the  principal  engineers  of  the  state  works  of  Illinois;  the  company  are  pro- 
ceeding in  the  execution  of  their  plans  as  set  forth  in  their  prospectus,  viz.:  to 
make  the  levees,  streets  and  embankments  of  the  city;  to  erect  warehouses,  stores 
and  shops  convenient  for  every  branch  of  commercial  business;  dry  docks;  also, 
buildings  adapted  for  every  useful,  mechanical  and  manufacturing  purpose,  and 
dwelling  houses  of  such  cost  and  description  as  will  suit  the  taste  and  means  of 
every  citizen,  which  course  has  been  adopted  as  the  most  certain  to  secure  the 
destined  population  of  Cairo  within  the  least  possible  time.  The  company,  how- 
ever, wish  it  fully  understood,  that  it  is  far  from  their  desire  or  intention  to 
monopolize  or  engage  in  any  of  the  various  objects  of  enterprise,  trade,  or  busi- 
ness, which  must  of  necessity  spring  up  and  be  carried  on  with  great  and 
singular  success  at  this  city: — it  being  their  governing  motive  to  offer  every 
reasonable  and  proper  encouragement  to  the  enterprising  and_  skillful  artisan, 
manufacturer,  merchant  and  professional  man  to  identify  his  interest  with  the 
growth  and  prosperity  of  the  city.  When  the  company  make  sales  or  leases  of 
property  it  will  be  on  such  liberal  terms  as  no  other  town  or  city  can  offer,  pos- 
sessing like  advantages  for  the  acquisition  of  that  essential  means  of  human  hap- 
piness— wealth.  The  President  of  the  company  is  fully  empowered,  whenever 
he  shall  deem  it  expedient,  to  sell  or  lease  the  property,  and  otherwise  to  repre- 
sent the  general  interests  and  aflfairs  of  the  Company.  Information  respecting  the 
Company  or  the  City,  will  be  communicated  at  all  times  by  the  directors  at 
Cairo;  and  also  by: 

Hon.  Sidney  Breese,  Hon.  John  Reynolds, 

Hon.  Zadoc  Casey,  Hon.  Adam  W.  Snyder, 

Hon.  5oseph  Duncan,  Hon.  William  Kinney, 

Hon.  David  J.  Baker,  Mr.  John  Tilson, 

Illinois. 

Messrs.  Thos.  Biddle  &  Co.,  Mr.  John  Hemphill, 

Mr.  Wm.  Strickland,  Mr.  Rich'd  C.  Taylor, 

Mr.  Joseph  Coperthwait,  Wm.  A.  Meredith,  Esq.,  _ 

Philadelphia. 

Mr.  E.  R.  Biddle,  New  York  Trust  Co., 

Messrs.  Nevins,  Townsend  &  Co.,  Mr.  Simeon  Draper,  Jr., 

Messrs.  Travis  &  Alexander,  Mr.  Daniel  Low, 

New  York. 

Messrs.  John  Brown  &  Co.,  Amos  Binney,  Esq., 

Samuel  D.  Ward,  Esq.,  Hon.  Peleg  Sprague, 

Boston. 

Col.  Anthony  Olney,  Acting  Commissioner. 

CONSULTING  ENGINEERS 
William  Strickland,  Architect  and  Engineer,  Philadelphia. 
Major  Wm.  Gibbs  McNeil,   Chief  Engineer  of  the  Charleston   and   Cmcinnati 

Railroad. 
E.  R.  Biddle,  Treasurer,  D.  B.  Holbrook,  President. 

New  York. 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO  FROM   1836  TO   1846  49 

When  the  company  are  prepared  to  dispose  of  their  real  estate,  they  'will 
offer  it  on  lease  for  a  certain  term  of  years  at  such  rent  or  rents,  as  the  business 
of  the  place  ivill  justify  and  ivarrant,  conditioned,  that  if  the  consideration  agreed 
upon  is  punctually  paid  for  and  during  the  time  stipulated  in  the  lease,  the 
estate  in  question  shall  become  bona  fide  the  property  of  the  lessee.  This  will 
give  to  every  one,  desirous  to  make  Cairo  his  permanent  place  of  business,  the 
opportunity  of  becoming  the  possessor  of  a  dwelling  and  place  of  business,  by 
the  annual  payment  of  a  sum  for  rent,  that  the  profits  of  his  business  will  justify 
if  properly  conducted  —  and  the  company  may  venture  to  say,  that  the  rent 
which  may  be  required  will  not  in  all  probability  exceed  the  rates  now  paid  for 
buildings,  whether  for  dwellings  or  places  of  business,  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis. 
The  object  of  this  liberal  policy  being  to  offer  a  sufficient  inducement  to  men  of 
enterprise,  skill  and  industry,  to  identify  at  once  their  interest  with  the  growth 
of  the  city,  and  at  the  same  time  secure  to  the  place  a  desirable  population  as 
soon  as  the  required  and  necessary  buildings  are  erected. 

This  last  quotation  from  the  company's  prospectus  contains  an 
announcement  of  that  policy  of  the  company  "which  became  the  source 
of  serious  and  long  continued  complaints,  namely,  the  leasing  of  lots  and 
lands  instead  of  the  sales  thereof." 

Although  seemingly  very  much  out  of  place,  we  introduce  here  the 
matter  of  the  high  water  of  June,  1858,  when  a  break  occurred  in  the 
Mississippi  levee  and  caused  an  inundation  of  the  city.  We  do  this 
chiefly  because  it  enables  us  to  present  a  concise  account  of  the  work 
and  operations  of  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company  after  its  attention 
had  been  fully  withdrawn  from  its  own  central  railroad  enterprise.  The 
latter  part  of  what  we  will  now  quote  is  our  first  introduction  to  the 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property. 

On  Saturday  afternoon,  June  12,  1858,  in  the  time  of  what  has 
already  been  called  the  June  rise,  the  Mississippi  levee,  at  or  near  the 
point  where  it  turns  and  connects  with  the  cross  levee,  or  just  west  of 
the  present  Illinois  Central  Railroad  bridge,  gave  way  under  the  pressure 
of  the  great  flood  of  water  and  inundated  the  entire  city.  So  great  was 
the  surprise  and  loss  of  the  people,  and  especially  of  the  Trustees  and 
shareholders,  that  the  latter  sent  a  committee  of  their  number  here  to 
investigate  and  report  concerning  the  calamity  which  had  come  to  their 
property,  and  to  the  people  here.  The  members  of  the  committee  were 
Harvey  Baldwin,  of  Syracuse;  Charles  McAlister  and  Josiah  Randall, 
of  Philadelphia;  Luther  C.  Clark,  of  New  York  City;  Lyman  Nichols, 
of  Boston;  and  John  Neal,  of  Portland.  These  gentlemen  had  been 
selected  for  this  purpose  under  two  certain  resolutions  of  the  share- 
holders at  a  meeting  held  at  the  office  of  the  Cairo  City  Property 
July  I,  1858,  in  Philadelphia.  On  the  22d  of  July,  the  committee 
conferred  fully  with  William  H.  Osborn,  the  president  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company,  which  by  its  contracts  with  the  said 
Trustees  of  June  11,  1851,  and  of  May  31,  1855,  had  become  almost  as 
deeply  interested  in  Cairo  as  were  the  shareholders  and  Trustees  them- 
selves. 

We  cannot  go  further  into  the  matter  here,  but  will  say  that  the 
committee  made  a  most  thorough  investigation  of  the  situation  and  made 
their  report  September  29,  1858,  and  gave  therein  at  considerable  length 


50  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

very  many  important  historical  facts  in  regard  to  Cairo.  If  there  are 
any  errors  in  it  we  have  not  been  able  to  discover  the  same.  It  was  not 
intended  to  be  perfectly  exact  as  to  dates  and  many  other  matters  and 
things,  but  it  is  quite  sufficiently  reliable  to  justify  including  a  few 
pages  thereof  in  this  history.  Did  we  omit  these  pages  we  would  never- 
theless feel  required  to  state  the  substance  of  them  ourselves.  The  fact, 
however,  that  this  investigation  and  report  were  made  fifty-one  years 
ago  should  give  to  it  a  value  above  anything  that  might  be  now  stated 
as  the  result  of  present  investigations.  The  members  of  the  committee 
were  shareholders  and  deeply  interested  in  the  situation.  They  were 
appointed  June  ist  and  made  their  report  September  29th  and  therefore 
had  an  abundance  of  time  to  make  a  thorough  investigation.  They 
made  it  and  seem  to  have  felt  that  the  scope  of  their  appointment  or 
duties  embraced  making  of  a  full  and  correct  statement  to  the  share- 
holders not  only  of  the  then  present  situation  but  of  the  history  of  prior 
undertakings  to  do  the  work  in  which  they  were  then  engaged.  Their 
report,  with  its  accompanjdng  documents,  makes  a  pamphlet  of  105 
pages,  and  it  is  entitled  "The  Past,  Present  and  Future  of  the  City  of 
Cairo,  in  North  America,"  published  in  Portland  in  1858. 
We  quote  from  pages  14  to  19: — 

As  early  as  1817,  the  great  business  advantages  of  this  remarkable  spot  began 
to  attract  the  attention  of  leading  statesmen,  capitalists,  and  men  of  business. 

In  1818,  a  liberal  charter  was  granted  to  an  association,  by  the  Territorial 
government  of  Illinois;  and  the  territory  was  laid  off  in  conformity  with  the 
charter,  for  the  "City  of  Cairo,"  with  banking  privileges. 

Owing  to  deaths,  commercial  paroxysms,  and  other  hindrances,  nothing  more 
was  done  toward  carrying  out  the  sagacious  and  magnificent  enterprise,  till  1837, 
when  arrangements  were  entered  into  between  the  Proprietors  holding  under  a 
charter  for  the  "City  and  Bank  of  Cairo,"  and  the  State  of  Illinois;  and  a  new 
charter  was  granted  to  the  "Illinois  Central  Rail  Road  Company"  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  Railroad,  "to  commence  at,  or  near  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mis- 
sissippi rivers,  and  terminating  at  Galena." 

After  this  company  had  organized,  and  secured  a  large  portion  of  the  land 
they  wanted,  the  State  of  Illinois  undertook  a  large  and  comprehensive  system 
of  internal  improvements,  making  the  Central  Railroad  the  basis  of  the  whole; 
and  the  railroad  company  abandoned  their  privileges  to  the  State  upon  the  ex- 
pressed condition,  to  be  found  in  the  law  itself,  that  the  Central  Railroad  should 
begin  at  the  City  of  Cairo,  at  or  near  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi. 

Then  followed  the  "Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company"  incorporated  March  4, 
1837,  with  power  to  purchase  any  part  of  township  No.  seventeen,  and  especially 
that  portion  thereof  which  was  incorporated  in  181 8,  as  the  "City  of  Cairo,"  and 
"to  make  all  improvements  for  the  protection,  health  and  prosperity  of  the  City." 

The  stock  of  this  new  Company  being  all  taken,  and  the  Company  itself 
organized,  arrangements  were  entered  into  for  obtaining  a  loan  of  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  "to  be  applied  to  the  payment  and  extinguishment  of  such 
mortgages  and  incumbrances  as  might  exist  on  the  lands  purchased  by  the  Com- 
pany, within  Township  numbered  seventeen"  and  for  further  investments  in  land 
and  other  propert>%  by  conveying  the  whole  proprietorship  in  Trust,  on  the  i6th 
of  Dec.  1837,  to  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  and  Trust  Co.,  and  by  a  sup- 
plemental deed,  of  June  13,  1839,  to  the  same  Company,  for  securing  the  bond- 
holders on  further  loans,  to  be  employed  in  large  improvements  at  Cairo;  in 
protecting  the  city  from  overflow,  on  both  sides ;  in  building  a  Turnpike  to  the 
State  road  from  Vincennes  to  St.  Louis ;  and  in  opening  a  canal  through  the  city, 
to  Cache  river,    a   distance   of   six   miles,   which,  by  the   help   of  a   dam,   would 


13 
RAILROAD  CELEBRATION* 

The  citizens  of  Ga)etia  and  vicinity  are  respectfully  invited  to  meet  at 
the  Court-house,  on  Monday  morning  next,  at  9  o'clock,  for  the  purpose 
of  celebrating  the  breaking  giound  on  the  northern  termination  of  the 
great  Central  lailroad.  The  citizens  of  Dubuque,  Mineral  Point,  and 
the  adjoining  counties,  are  also  respectfully  invited  to  join  in  the  celebra- 
tion under  the  following  order  of  tne  committee  of  arrangement. 

Order  of  Procession* 

Music. 

Marshal  of  the  day. 

President  and  Trustees  of  the  town*: 

Clergy  and  Orator  of  the  day. 

Commissioners,  Engineers  and  Contractors. 

Second  Marshal,       \    ^"^rpTe'™":!"^'^     |  Third  Marshal. 

Members  of  Mechanics'  Institute. 

Fire  Companies. 

Hook  and  Ladder  Company. 

Members  of  the  Bar. 

Citizens  and  Strangers. 

President,  Vice-President,  and  officers  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Fourth  Marshal.  Fifth  Marshal. 

The  committee  appointed  the  following  gentlemen  to  act  as  Marshals 
on  the  occasioQ: 

Capt.  H.  H.  Gear,  Messrs.  Philip  Barry,  Wm.  B.  Green,  George  M. 
Mitchell,  Legrand  Morehouse. 

The  procession  will  form  at  the  Court-house,  and  proceed  down  Main 
street  to  the  steamboat  landing,  where  it  will  embark  on  board  of  boats 
prepared  for  the  occasion  to  take  them  to  the  vicinity  of  the  place  where 
the  work  is  to  commence. 

A  general  invitation  is  respectfully  tendered  to  the  ladies  of  Galena, 
and  the  surrounding  country,  to  repair  on  board  the  boats  previous  to 
the  time  of  the  procession  reaching  it. 

OCT  The  businessmen  of  Galena  are  requested  to  close  their  stores 
and  shops  on  that  day. 

PHILIP  BARRY, 
GEORGE  M.  MITCHELL, 
JOHN  L.  SLAYMaKER, 
JOHN  H.  WEBBER, 
H.  H.  GEAR, 
WM.  SMITH, 

Commillee  of  Arrangemeni. 
Galena,  JJfor/ 23, 1838. 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO  FROM   1836  TO  1846  51 

secure  a  slack  water  navigation  of  twenty  miles  further,  into  a  rich  agricultural 
and  timber  region. 

Under  this  charter,  the  Company  completed  their  purchases  of  land,  amount- 
ing altogether  to  9,732.4  acres,  of  which  3,88+  acres  were  appropriated  to  the 
City  of  Cairo.  The  titles  were  investigated  by  eminent  lawyers,  and  after  a  care- 
ful enquiry,  and  a  comparison  of  prices  at  Alton,  Chicago  and  other  places  with 
fewer  natural  advantages,  the  valuation  of  lots  under  the  Deed  of  Trust,  instead 
of  being  $400,  per  front  foot,  for  business  lots,  and  from  $50  to  $100  per  foot 
for  house  lots,  the  prices  paid  in  1837  at  Alton,  with  a  population  of  2,500  only, 
was  fixed  at  $25  per  front  foot  for  lots  of  25  by  120,  on  streets  and  squares,  and 
$60  per  front  foot,  for  all  such  lots,  on  levees  or  landings. 

Of  the  former  there  were  surve3^ed  22,774  ^o^s  at  $625,  and  of  the  latter 
1,180  at  $1,500 — being  23,954  lots,  %vhich,  at  the  valuation  agreed  upon,  yielded 
an  aggregate  of  sixteen  millions,  thirty-seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 

Other  loans  were  obtained  in  the  progress  of  improvement ;  and  after  bonds 
had  been  registered  under  the  deed  of  Trust  to  the  amount  of  £287,600  sterling, 
or  nearly  fourteen  hundred  thousand  dollars,  of  which  £155,800,  or  about  seven 
hundred  and  fiftj'  thousand  dollars,  had  been  sold,  and  while  the  company  were 
negotiating  for  a  further  loan  of  £200,000,  there  came  on  that  commercial  crisis, 
which  overthrew  so  many  of  the  largest  and  wealthiest  associations  of  both  hemis- 
pheres, and  completely  paralyzed  the  business  world.  Thousands  of  merchant 
princes,  bankers  and  capitalists  were  shipwrecked,  both  abroad  and  at  home ;  and 
it  being  found  that  many  of  the  largest,  wealthiest,  best-informed  and  most  willing 
of  the  share-holders,  had  gone  into  bankruptcy;  that  nothing  could  be  done  with 
their  assignees;  and  that  the  large  outlays  upon  the  city  of  Cairo,  the  buildings, 
levees  and  embankments,  amounting,  with  interest,  to  about  three  and  a  half 
millions  of  dollars,  might  become  unproductive,  and  all  the  unfinished  works  be 
rendered  worthless,  if  immediate  measures  were  not  taken  to  secure  the  zealous 
and  hearty  co-operation  of  all  parties  interested,  whether  as  bond-holders,  mort- 
gagees or  share-holders,  a  proposition  was  made  in  the  month  of  January,  1845, 
by  the  late  Darius  B.  Holbrook,  President  of  the  Illinois  Exporting  Company, 
through  whom  a  large  proportion  of  these  funds  had  been  furnished,  for  all 
parties  interested  to  unite  in  a  sale  of  the  whole  Cairo  property,  unencumbered,  to 
a  new  Company,  for  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars,  or  about  one  fifth  of  the 
actual  cost,  including  interest;  to  divide  the  whole  stock  into  thirty-five  thousand 
shares ;  to  subscribe  for  one-half,  or  seventeen  thousand  five  hundred  shares  him- 
self, as  President  of  the  Illinois  Exporting  Company,  and  to  throw  a  like  number 
of  shares  into  the  market,  for  sale  at  twenty  dollars  a  share. 

This  proposition  being  accepted,  and  the  preliminarj'^  arrangements  completed, 
on  the  twenty-ninth  of  September,  A.  D.  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty- 
six,  the  whole  Cairo  City  property  was  put  into  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Thomas  S. 
Taylor,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Charles  Davis,  of  New  York,  for  the  purposes 
mentioned  in  their  Declaration  of  Trust,  hereunto  annexed,  and  marked  D. 

Under  this  arrangement,  the  beneficial  interest  in  the  Cairo  City  lands  and 
property,  of  every  description,  was  divided  into  thirty-five  thousand  shares,  of 
the  par  value  of  one  hundred  dollars  each.  Certificates,  representing  twenty 
thousand  shares  were  to  be  delivered  by  the  Trustees,  Taylor  and  Davis,  to  the 
order  of  the  Illinois  Exporting  Company;  certificates  representing  seven  thousand 
shares,  to  Charles  Davis,  attorney  in  fact  for  certain  holders  of  bonds  issued  by 
the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company;  certificates  representing  three  thousand 
shares  to  Messrs.  Robertson,  Newbold,  Cope  and  Taylor,  Assignees  in  Trust,  for 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  holders  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Com- 
pany's bonds,  which  were  to  be  surrendered  and  cancelled;  the  remaining  five 
thousand  shares  to  be  sold  by  the  said  Taylor  and  Davis,  and  the  proceeds  applied 
to  the  expenses  of  the  Trust,  to  the  payment  of  five  thousand  dollars,  advanced 
by  Samuel  Allinson,  Esq.,  and  to  improvements  of  the  Cairo  City  Property. 

It  was  further  stipulated  that  whenever  thereto  authorized  in  writing,  by 
two-thirds  of  the  share-holders  in  interest,  the  Trustees  might  enlarge  the  number 
of  shares,  and  sell  them,  either  at  public  or  private  sale,  and  apply  the  proceeds 
to  further  improvements  of  the  unsold  Cairo  property. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
ai  URBANA  CHAMPAIGN 


52 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

On  the  2ist  of  Nov.,  1850,  ten  thousand  additional  shares  were  authorized, 
making  forty-five  thousand  in  all,  thirty  thousand  of  which  were  received  at 
par,  to  extinguish  the  liabilities  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  and  to 
clear  off  all  incumbrances;  while  the  remaining  fifteen  thousand  shares  were  to 
be  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  Trust,  and  for  the  improvement  and  protection  of 
the  property. 

Of  the  whole  10,000  shares  authorized  to  be  issued,  for  these  purposes,  and 
of  the  other  5,000  shares  appropriated  under  the  Declaration  of  Trust,  only  8,311 
are  now  outstanding,  and  the  whole  number  of  shares  now  entitled  to  repre- 
sentation is  but  36,491. 

Under  this  last  mentioned  organization  it  is,  that  all  the  present  share- 
holders in  the  C.  C.  P.,  now  act,  and  while  to  the  bond-holders  and  original  cash 
creditors  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  the  actual  cost  of  a  share,  with 
simple  interest  up  to  this  time,  is  about  one  hundred  and  eighty  dollars,  the  cost, 
with  simple  interest  to  the  share-holders,  who  bought  in  at  one-fifth  of  the 
original  cost,  is  only  about  thirty-six  dollars. 

Yet,  a  single  share  actually  represents  about  one  lot  and  one-twentieth  of 
a  lot,  within  the  City,  as  originally  laid  out,  with  a  correspondent  proportion  of 
the  outside  territory,  equal  to  one  and  one-half  lots  more,  of  25  feet  by  120. 

The  sales  within  the  city  had  averaged  up  to  January  last,  reckoning  from 
December  23,  1853,  when  the  first  lot  was  sold,  about  $400  per  lot;  and  the 
assessed  value  of  the  lots  within  the  city  limits  in  1857,  based  upon  sales  for  cash, 
was  $1,434,679. 

This  is  a  remarkably  full  and  clear  statement.  It  gives  in  the 
shortest  possible  space  a  comprehensive  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Cairo 
City  and  Canal  Company  and  its  somewhat  checkered  existence,  and 
of  its  merger  into  the  Cairo  City  Property  Trust.  As  in  these  present 
times,  the  one  company  had  gone  on  as  far  as  it  could,  and  those  in 
charge  of  its  failing  fortunes  set  about  the  organization  of  another 
company  to  take  up  the  work  the  old  company  found  too  heavy  to  carry. 
New  men  were  to  be  put  in  charge  under  supposedly  more  favorable 
circumstances. 

But  we  may  inquire,  what  did  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company 
actually  do  and  perform  in  the  way  of  starting  a  city  here?  To  answer 
this  question  we  have  not  much  reliable  information.  It  exists  some- 
where or  in  many  different  places,  no  doubt,  but  to  gather  it  up  and  put 
it  in  shape  would  take  weeks  of  hard  work.  But  much  of  it  is  not 
needed ;  an  outline  is  about  all  that  could  be  asked  for.  We  have  seen 
a  number  of  original  records,  but  they  contain  so  little  that  should  be 
stated  with  any  kind  of  detail  that  we  shall  refer  to  them  only  now  and 
then.  All  their  books,  papers  and  records,  covering  a  period  of  ten 
years,  if  now  in  existence,  may  be  in  Philadelphia,  or  New  York,  or 
possibly  they  may  now"  be  among  the  books  and  papers  left  by  Col. 
Taylor  here  in  Cairo.  Were  they  before  one  and  gone  over  with  some 
care,  they  would  present  a  remarkable  record  of  corporate  activity  for 
that  decade  from  1836  to  1846.  They  would  show,  much  more  clearly 
than  we  now  see  it,  how  one  man  had  been  invested  with  absolute 
authority;  how  every  one  yielded  to  him,  how  hard  he  worked,  how  he 
traveled  far  and  near  and  did  everything  to  advance  the  enterprise.  I 
have  said  so  much  about  this  in  other  places  that  I  need  not  say  more 
here,  except  to  embrace  it  all  in  one  comprehensive  sentence,  by  saying 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO  FROM   1836  TO   1846  53 

that  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  was  D.  B.  Holbrook,  or  D.  B. 
Holbrook  was  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company. 

The  name  of  the  company  implied  that  it  expected  to  build  or  start 
a  city  and  to  construct  a  canal.  The  canal  was  to  extend  from  Cache 
River  down  to  the  point,  a  distance  of  about  six  miles,  and  about  mid- 
way between  the  two  rivers,  and  at  its  southern  end,  it  was  to  send  out 
arms  or  branches  to  each  river.  The  map  elsewhere  found  will  show 
what  was  proposed.  The  canal  part  of  the  enterprise  w^as  abandoned. 
The  design  seems  to  have  been  to  have  a  canal  along  and  through  the 
center  of  the  city,  which  would  very  much  better,  as  they  supposed, 
accommodate  the  shipping  interests  than  the  river  on  either  side  of  the 
city.  Vessels  of  all  kinds  it  was  supposed  could  enter  the  wide  canal 
either  at  the  north  on  Cache  or  from  the  Mississippi  or  Ohio  at  its 
southern  termini.  The  scheme  must  have  soon  appeared  wholly  im- 
practicable. How  the  same  could  have  ever  been  carried  out  with  the 
rise  and  fall  of  the  rivers  through  a  perpendicular  distance  of  forty  to 
fifty  feet  can  scarcely  be  imagined.  How  the  water  could  have  been 
maintained  in  the  canal  much  higher  than  the  level  of  the  waters  in 
the  rivers  or  how  the  canal  could  have  been  made  deep  enough  and  yet 
suited  to  loading  or  unloading  from  vessels  in  the  canal  does  not  appear 
to  us  if  it  ever  appeared  plain  enough  to  them. 

To  enable  the  men  in  charge  of  the  Cairo  enterprise  to  manage  their 
affairs  to  better  advantage,  the  legislature  had  incorporated  the  Illinois 
Exporting  Company.  There  were,  therefore,  three  companies  here  at 
Cairo  on  and  after  March  4,  1837,  the  day  of  the  incorporation  of  the 
Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company.  These  companies  were  thought  not 
only  needful  but  sufficient  to  contract  with  and  for  each  other  in  and 
about  building  a  railroad  and  a  city,  and  carrying  on  such  other  work 
or  enterprises  as  might  come  within  the  scope  of  the  powers  of  the  Ex- 
porting Company,  if  not  within  the  powers  of  either  one  of  the  other 
two;  and  accordingly,  we  find  these  companies  entering  into  two  con- 
tracts on  the  26th  day  of  June,  1837,  relative  to  the  construction  of  the 
railroad,  and,  in  particular,  relative  to  its  being  started  here  at  Cairo 
and  not  elsewhere. 

The  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  having  been  relieved  of  all  its 
contemplated  railroad  work,  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  devote  its  whole 
attention  to  work  here  at  the  site  of  the  proposed  city,  which  was  little 
less  than  a  dense  forest  between  the  rivers.  Levee  building  was,  of 
course,  the  first  thing  to  receive  attention.  It  was  useless  to  project 
anything  requiring  the  expenditure  of  money  without  first  arranging 
for  the  protection  of  the  site  from  overflow  by  the  rivers. 

As  elsewhere  stated,  they  do  not  seem  to  have  considered  the  matter 
of  filling  even  a  small  portion  of  the  ground  to  a  height  sufficient  to 
dispense  with  levees.  Their  plan  was  to  inclose  a  large  district  of 
country  by  earth  embankments  along  the  rivers  and  across  the  point, 
and  leave  the  natural  level  of  the  ground  just  about  as  it  was.  At  the 
outstart,  they  do  not  seem  to  have  known  much  about  what  we  now  call 
seepage.     Had  they  or  their  successors,  the  Cairo  City  Property  people, 


54 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

adopted  a  different  plan,  that  is,  the  plan  of  filling  a  comparatively 
smaJl  district  of  territory  to  a  reasonably  high  grade,  which,  if  requiring 
levees  at  all  would  have  required  comparatively  low  ones,  they  nor 
we  would  ever  have  heard  of  seepage  water.  The  money  expended  in 
building  levees  and  in  a  dozen  different  ways,  made  necessary  by  the 
low  grounds,  would  have  gone  far  toward  raising  the  general  level  of 
a  large  district  to  the  present  grade  of  our  downtown  streets  and 
avenues,  and  in  such  case  we  would  have  been  spared  the  large 
expenditures  we  are  now  making  to  free  the  city  from  the 
accumulated  water  within  its  levees.  But  all  the  plans  and  operations 
of  this  company  seem  to  have  presupposed  a  great  demand  for  city 
lots  and  for  such  great  prosperity  that  any  comparatively  slow  method 
of  preparing  a  site  for  a  city  could  not  be  entertained ;  and  it  is  altogether 
probable  that  no  other  plan  was  ever  seriously  thought  of  except  that 
of  inclosing  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands,  of  acres  within  levees  along  the 
rivers.  We  are  impressed  by  nothing  in  all  the  history  of  those  early 
years  so  much  as  by  what  seems  to  have  been  the  views  of  the  promoters 
of  the  enterprise  here  as  to  the  slight  depth  of  the  water  over  the  point 
when  the  rivers  were  at  their  highest.  Much  allowance  must  be  made 
for  men  in  promoting  their  plans  and  schemes,  for  all  experience 
teaches  us  that  the  advantages  are  highly  colored  and  the  disadvantages 
made  little  of ;  and  hence  we  could  hardly  expect  that  they  would  repre- 
sent the  site  of  the  city  as  low  as  it  really  was  or  that  the  rivers 
rose  as  high  as  they  really  do;  but  making  all  allowances  possible,  it 
still  seems  remarkably  strange  how,  as  far  back  as  in  1836  and  from 
thence  up  to  1850  and  even  later,  it  was  represented  in  every  way  and 
manner  that  the  site  was  not  so  low  and  that  the  rivers  did  not  rise  and 
overflow  it  to  any  considerable  depth.  It  is  true  we  have  a  far  better 
knowledge  of  the  actual  situation  than  they  could  have  had.  None  of 
them  had  ever  seen  any  very  high  rivers.  The  flood  of  1844  was  out  of 
the  Mississippi  and  could  not  have  been  very  high  here.  The  small 
levees  then  existing  and  inclosing  778.70  acres  kept  out  what  has  always 
been  represented  as  a  very  great  flood.  The  flood  of  1849  broke  through 
the  Mississippi  levee  for  the  distance  of  1625  feet,  but  the  record  of  that 
flood  does  not  show  it  to  have  been  a  very  great  one.  The  flood  of 
June  12,  1858,  was  not  so  high;  but  the  levee  on  the  west  was  weak 
and  badly  constructed  and  for  that  reason  gave  way. 

Returning  to  the  Holbrook  people  as  they  were  starting  out  with 
their  work,  we  remark  that  they  needed  large  means;  first,  for  levee 
construction;  for  it  was  quite  useless  to  make  any  considerable  ex- 
penditures here  on  the  point  until  they  should  be  protected  from  over- 
flows from  the  rivers.  The  first  question  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  how 
much  money  is  needed  and  how  can  it  be  obtained.  The  men  in 
charge  knew  that  the  money  could  not  be  obtained  in  this  country  on 
any  reasonable  terms  as  to  interest  or  othervvise.  There  was  not  much 
money  in  this  country  then,  and  in  all  matters  of  importance,  requiring 
large  expenditures,  it  was  always  expected  that  resort  would  be  had  to 
London,  the  money  center  of  Europe  and  of  the  world  then,  if  not  quite 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO  FROM   1836  TO   1846  55 

so  much  so  now.  But  to  get  the  money  anywhere,  there  must  be  good 
security  for  the  interest  thereon  and  its  ultimate  payment  at  the  time 
stipulated.  The  company  had  only  its  real  estate  to  offer  as  security. 
But  as  the  enterprise  was  generally  regarded  with  great  favor,  it  had  no 
great  difficulty  in  arranging  to  have  its  monetary  affairs  taken  in  hand 
by  competent  men  in  this  country;  and  therefore  it  arranged  with  the 
New  York  Life  Insurance  and  Trust  Company,  in  the  year  1838,  to 
secure  the  bonds  which  the  company  desired  to  put  upon  the  market  by 
a  trust  deed  upon  its  real  estate  to  the  said  trust  company.  That  deed 
of  trust,  executed  by  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  on  the  26th  day 
of  June,  1837,  is  found  recorded  in  book  "D"  on  pages  42  to  47,  of  our 
county  records.  It  was  easy  enough  to  make  a  deed  of  trust  and  to 
prepare  bonds,  but  to  sell  the  bonds  readily  and  to  advantage  was  often 
very  difficult.  At  that  time,  American  securities  were  not  sought  after 
as  now,  and  those  who  dealt  in  them  abroad  frequently  incurred  un- 
friendly treatment  from  their  rivals  in  the  money  markets. 

As  elsewhere  stated,  D.  B.  Holbrook,  the  president  of  the  Cairo  City 
and  Canal  Company  and  the  Illinois  Exporting  Company,  proceeded  to 
London  and  negotiated  with  John  Wright  &  Company,  Bankers,  of 
Henrietta  Street,  Covent  Garden,  and  arranged  for  them  to  take  charge 
of  the  sale  of  his  Cairo  bonds,  secured  by  the  trust  deed  to  the  New 
York  company.  To  arrange  with  these  London  bankers,  Holbrook  had 
to  present  the  situation  here  very  fully,  both  as  to  the  title  and  value  of 
the  company's  real  estate  as  well  as  to  the  permanency  of  the  site  of  the 
proposed  city.  They  needed  little  assurance  as  to  the  geographical 
situation ;  but  if  the  site  was  so  low  or  otherwise  largely  unsuitable  for 
the  establishment  of  a  city,  the  enterprise  would  be  regarded  with  little 
favor.  It  was  not  to  be  treated  as  a  real-estate  investment  alone.  It 
was  known  that  aside  from  the  starting  and  building  up  of  a  city  of  some 
considerable  size,  the  lands  were  of  comparatively  little  value.  Hence 
it  was  that  Wright  &  Company  must  have  been  very  well  satisfied  as  to 
the  outlook  and  prospects  of  a  city  here  on  the  mortgaged  property. 

There  were  then  in  London  Daniel  Webster,  our  ex-governor,  John 
Reynolds,  and  our  United  States  Senator,  John  M.  Young.  Holbrook 
laid  before  Webster  his  papers  and  documents,  and  obtained  from  him 
a  favorable  opinion  as  to  the  title  to  the  lands  here,  the  deed  of  trust, 
etc.  Holbrook  was  successful  in  raising  the  means  he  thought  requisite 
to  their  enterprise  for  some  considerable  time  to  come.  I  need  not  speak 
of  them  here  again,  since  the  matter  is  set  forth  at  length  in  the  above 
report  to  the  shareholders  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  in  September,  1858. 
It  is  quite  impossible  now  to  tell  just  how  the  large  siuns  of  money 
obtained  from  the  sale  of  bonds  in  London  were  expended.  They  must 
have  reached  New  York  and  Cairo  in  various  amounts  from  time  to 
time.  The  lands  embraced  in  the  trust  deed  to  secure  the  bonds  were 
only  three  to  four  thousand  acres,  whereas,  when  the  Cairo  City  and 
Canal  Company  sold  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  June 
13,  1846,  there  were  9734  acres,  including  the  more  recent  purchases  by 
the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company.     If  the  large  sum  of  $1,250,000.00 


56 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

was  expended  here  by  that  company,  from  1838  to  1844,  a  period  of 
six  years,  one  can  scarcely  imagine  for  what  the  various  expenditures 
were  made.  The  levees  built  were  the  two  extending  up  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  rivers,  the  one  12,320  feet  in  length  and  the  other  4780 
feet,  the  two  making  an  embankment  of  about  three  and  one  half  miles. 
They  were  narrow  and  not  very  high,  compared  with  our  present 
levees,  and  could  not  have  cost  more  than  two  or  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars  at  the  most  and  perhaps  not  so  much.  Labor  was  cheap, 
although  in  this  out-of-the-way  place  it  may  have  been  rather  high. 
The  expenditures  for  lands  were,  as  I  have  already  stated,  large. 
Every  one  thought  the  place  had  a  most  promising  future  before  it,  and 
owners  of  lands  asked  high  prices;  and  Holbrook  seemed  willing  to  pay 
almost  any  price  in  order  to  secure  well  nigh  exclusive  ownership  of 
everything  here  between  the  two  rivers  south  of  Cache  River.  Next  to 
the  purchase  of  lands  and  the  construction  of  levees  was  the  clearing  ofE 
of  a  strip  of  ground  adjoining  the  Ohio  River,  of  the  width  of  a  quarter 
of  a  mile,  and  for  the  distance  from  the  point  to  Twentieth  Street.  This 
expense  could  not  have  been  very  great.  Besides  these  we  know  of 
little  else  than  the  large  expenditures  made  for  improvements  along  the 
line  of  the  Ohio  and  on  this  cleared  strip  of  land.  Cottages  for 
temporary  and  more  permanent  residence  purposes  were  constructed. 
Manufacturing  establishments,  such  as  machine  shops,  saw  mills,  foun- 
dries, brick  yard  work,  dry  docks,  marine  ways  and  other  appurtenances 
for  steamboat  building,  and  the  furnishing  of  machinerj^  of  all  kinds 
to  equip  the  difFerent  manufacturing  plants,  these  and  others  of  a  like 
nature  required  large  expenditures.  It  is  said  that  the  most  modern 
and  expensive  machinery  was  provided  for  the  various  establishments 
and  that  much  of  it  came  from  London  and  other  very  distant  points. 
These  matters  of  the  character  of  the  machinery  and  its  importation  from 
abroad  are  mentioned  here  not  as  established  facts,  but  as  matters  of 
report,  not  to  say  of  tradition.  And  yet  one  can  easily  believe  all  such 
representations,  for  they  comport  so  fully  with  what  we  know  of  Hol- 
brook. Everything  he  planned  was  on  a  large  and  expensive  scale. 
His  theory  was  that  in  this  way  only  could  the  country  and  the  world 
be  convinced  that  what  he  and  his  company  had  in  hand  was  a  great 
thing  and  was  certain  of  a  remarkable  success.  It  is  one  of  those  strange 
things  of  human  experience  and  observation  that  large  and  lavish  ex- 
penditures of  money  in  almost  any  kind  of  an  enterprise  has  the  effect  of 
Impressing  so  many  people  with  the  belief  that  the  matter  in  hand  is 
one  of  great  merit  and  promise.  This  is  somewhat  natural.  People 
conclude  that  others  know  more  about  the  matter  than  they  do  and 
that  the  expenditures  would  not  be  made  were  not  the  enterprise  a  very 
sure  one. 

The  manufacturing  establishments  were  started,  and  work  carried 
on  for  two  or  three  years.  But  it  could  never  have  been  to  much 
advantage  or  profit.  The  outgo  was  always  more  than  the  income. 
The  business  on  the  river  and  in  the  vicinity  was  not  sufficient  to  sustain 
extensive  operations.     For  a  while  there  was  great  activity,  such  as  is 


THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO  FROM   1836  TO   1846  57 

always  found  at  the  first  in  doubtful  enterprises.  All  of  the  establish- 
ments, or  what  are  now  called  plants,  were  put  in  operation.  The 
sawmills  turned  out  great  quantities  of  lumber  for  all  purposes,  includ- 
ing the  building  of  steamboats  and  other  kinds  of  watercraft.  One 
steamboat,  at  least,  the  "Tennessee  Valley,"  was  built  in  1841.  Its 
owners  resided  at  Florence,  Alabama,  and  it  was  registered  at  New 
Orleans  April  23,  1842.  It  was  equipped  with  machinery  furnished  by 
the  foundrj'  and  machine  and  boiler  shops  near  by,  just  as  the  lumber 
and  timbers  for  it  came  from  the  sawmills  there  at  hand.  The  two 
large  brick-making  plants  in  the  upper  part  of  the  little  city  got  under 
way  with  their  improved  machinery  and  would  no  doubt  have  done 
good  work  had  there  been  good  materials  for  brick  and  a  good  demand 
for  the  manufactured  article.  It  has  never  been  supposed,  however,  at 
least  in  these  latter  days,  that  the  point  here  afforded  a  good  quality  of 
clay  for  brick  making. 

One  can  tell  something  of  what  was  done  and  carried  on  here  in 
those  few  short  years,  by  examining  the  records  at  the  court  house,  found 
chiefly  in  Book  D,  where  are  recorded  the  mortgages  and  other  liens 
given  by  the  company  to  its  creditors  upon  its  property  here  in  Cairo, 
its  buildings,  its  machinery  of  all  kinds  and  descriptions,  its  lumber  and 
building  materials  generally,  forms,  molds,  and  other  foundry  equip- 
ment, boilers,  iron  of  all  descriptions,  brick  in  many  thousands,  horses, 
oxen,  wagons,  chains,  in  fact,  everything  one  would  expect  to  find  in  and 
about  such  manufacturing  plants. 

The  day  of  adversity  had  come,  and  those  who  had  given  credit 
spared  no  effort  to  secure  something  that  would  somewhat  prevent  a 
total  loss.  The  situation  was  peculiar  indeed,  one  seldom  seen  in  the 
world  an}^where.  Cairo  had  been  started  once  before  and  failed  in 
the  shortest  possible  time.  It  existed  just  long  enough  to  spread  its 
failure  everyv^^here  abroad.  This  second  attempt  had  promised  much,  j 
but  when  it  became  evident  that  it  too  must  fail,  a  kind  of  frenzied 
feeling  took  possession  of  the  people  or  of  the  creditors,  of  whom  there 
were  many,  and  the  thought  became  general  that  not  only  the  Cairo  City 
and  Canal  Company  was  to  go  down,  but  that  the  whole  large  enterprise 
of  building  a  city  here  was  also  to  come  to  an  end.  It  meant  loss  of 
debts  and  loss  of  home  and  removal  to  other  parts  of  the  country'  to 
commence  life  anew.  No  wonder  the  people  or  many  of  them  exhibited 
a  kind  of  rapacity  of  conduct  as  the  full  view  of  the  calamity  of  the 
situation  came  before  them. 

Holbrook  saw  the  fast  approaching  end  probably  long  before  anyone 
else,  and  knowing  well  that  were  he  in  Cairo  when  it  arrived,  he 
could  do  nothing  for  anyone,  left  the  place  before  the  storm  broke 
upon  it.  He  knew  whom  the  people  or  most  of  them  would  look  upon 
as  responsible  for  their  misfortunes,  and  that  his  presence  here  would 
but  add  violence  to  the  probable  outbreak. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    CAIRO    CITY    AND    CANAL    COMPANY SUCCEEDED    BY    THE    CAIRO 

CITY   PROPERTY  TRUST CAIRO    FROM   JUNE    I3,    1846,   TO 

DECEMBER  23,    1853 

HOLBROOK  had  taken  the  lead  in  everything  relating  to  the  or- 
ganization and  operations  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company, 
and  now  that  it  could  go  on  no  longer,  he  took  the  lead  also  in 
its  transformation  into  another  company  or  concern  to  take  up  the  work 
the  other  had  to  lay  down.  He  no  doubt  regretted  the  alternative  of 
going  on  and  into  utter  bankruptcy,  or  turning  over  the  enterprise  to 
others ;  but  seeing  that  it  was  unavoidable,  he  accepted  the  situation,  and, 
like  any  other  brave-hearted  man,  sought  to  make  the  most  favorable  ar- 
rangement he  could  for  the  old  company  and  its  stockholders.  Their  en- 
terprise had  been  a  going  one  for  five  or  six  years  at  most,  and  the  work 
of  settlement  and  the  change  from  the  old  to  the  new  management  seem 
to  have  required  half  of  that  length  of  time.  There  were  many  interests 
and  persons  to  be  consulted,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  for  that 
and  many  other  reasons  the  negotiations  proceeded  slowly.  There  were 
creditors  of  every  kind  and  description,  both  secured  and  unsecured ;  but 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  those  actually  and  well  secured  were  very  few.  The 
first  news  that  the  enterprise  was  in  a  failing  condition  sent  down  every- 
where the  values  of  all  kinds  of  its  property.  Its  lands,  its  site  for  a 
city,  could  scarcely  have  depreciated  faster  or  fallen  lower  in  value; 
and  had  there  been  no  creditors,  there  is  no  telling  what  could  have 
been  done.  The  geographical  position  of  the  place  was  all  that  saved 
the  undertaking  from  complete  destruction.  The  people  interested 
could  not  come  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  wrong  and  that  there 
was  no  reasonable  chance  to  build  a  city  here.  At  all  events,  their 
interests  led  them  to  another  attempt  under  new  and  what  seemed  to 
be  more  favorable  circumstances. 

The  nature  and  terms  of  the  final  arrangement  are  so  fully  set  forth 
in  the  report  of  the  committee  of  the  stockholders  of  the  new  enterprise, 
made  September  29,  1858,  parts  of  which  are  quoted  elsewhere,  that 
we  need  not  refer  to  them  again. 

The  first  thing  done,  in  pursuance  of  the  new  arrangement,  was  the 
conveyance,  June  13,  1846,  by  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  of 
all  of  its  property  and  estate  to  Thomas  S.  Taylor,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
Charles  Davis,  of  New  York  City,  preparatory  to  the  formation  of 
a  trust  to  take  charge  of  the  property  and  the  enterprise  as  described 
in  the  report  of  September  29,  1858,  above  referred  to.  This  deed  of 
June  13,  1846,  is  recorded  in  Register  Book  A,  on  pages  123,  etc.     This 

58 


N9  II 

OF 


FROM   ACTUAL    SURVEY 
BY    H.CLONS 


UTH  OF  SARONYtk  MAJOR  N.YORK 


THE  CAIRO  CITY  AND  CANAL  COMPANY  59 

deed  was  followed  by  the  Declaration  of  Trust  of  September  29,  1846, 
executed  by  Taylor  and  Davis,  as  Trustees,  and  thirteen  other  persons, 
whose  names  are  as  follows:  Illinois  Exporting  Company,  J.  Robertson, 
Richard  H.  Bayard,  James  S.  Newbold,  Herman  Cope,  T.  S.  Taylor, 
Vincent  Eyre,  Thomas  Barnwall,  assignee  of  Wright  and  Company, 
John  Hibbert,  Henry  Webb,  Martha  Allinson,  James  McKillop,  and 
Thomas  Lloyd.  This  Declaration  of  Trust  is  recorded  in  Book  N,  on 
pages  465,  etc. 

From  the  time  of  the  Declaration  of  Trust,  September  29,  1846,  to 
December  23,  1853,  the  date  of  the  first  sales  of  lots  in  Cairo  by  the 
Trustees,  we  have  the  long  period  of  seven  and  a  quarter  years.  This 
delay  in  offering  lots  and  lands  for  sale  caused  many  complaints.  The 
people  knew  something  of  the  Holbrook  plan  in  this  regard,  and  it 
seemed  to  them  the  management  was  going  to  follow  Holbrook's  policy, 
which  was  to  retain  the  title  to  all  the  real  estate  and  give  only  long 
leases  thereof.  Concerning  this  long  delay  and  its  effect  upon  the 
people,  Addison  H.  Sanders,  in  his  newspaper,  "The  Cairo  Delta,"  of 
September  20,  1849,  wrote  as  follows,  under  the  heading  "Cairo — 
Good  Bye  To  It" : 

As  we  have  before  remarked,  Cairo  does  not  grow  any,  because  no  one  can 
buy  or  build,  the  property  being  in  the  hands  of  a  company  who  are  not  yet  pre- 
pared to  sell.  The  stockholders  of  this  company  are  principally  eastern  gentlemen, 
and  the  company  decidedly  American  and  represented  by  Charles  Davis,  of  New 
York,  and  Thomas  Taylor,  of  Philadelphia,  who  hold  the  property  in  trust.  We 
came  to  Cairo  under  the  belief  that  the  property  would  have  been  offered  for 
sale  last  fall  or  spring.  We  believe  that  operations  or  improvements  will  be 
commenced  next  spring  but  can  no  longer  await  an  uncertainty.  If  we  were 
sure  the  property  would  then  be  offered  for  sale,  no  inducement  could  be  offered 
enticing  enough  to  urge  our  removal  from  Cairo,  because  we  believe,  we  knonu 
in  fact,  that  when  this  property  is  offered  for  sale,  the  lots  will  be  snatched  up 
at  high  prices  and  many  of  them  by  men  who  will  guarantee  to  erect  substantial 
houses  on  the  property  within  a  given  time.  From  that  period  may  be  dated  the 
rapid  rise  of  Cairo  from  the  village  to  the  great  and  popular  city.  In  one 
season  the  levees  could  be  put  in  complete  repair,  and  Cairo  thus  perfectly  pro- 
tected against  flood,  and  during  the  same  period,  the  ground  on  the  inside  could 
be  raised  for  blocks  of  houses  fronting  on  the  Ohio  levee. 

This  number  of  the  "Delta"  was  the  last  one  issued  under  Sanders' 
supervision,  and  contains  his  valedictory.  He  was  dissatisfied  and 
greatly  discouraged,  so  much  so  that  he  decided  to  remove  from  the 
town.  When  he  left,  the  Trustees  had  been  in  charge  for  three  years 
and  yet  the  people  could  not  make  purchases  of  real  estate.  He  said, 
in  the  extract  above  given,  that  he  supposed  they  would  be  ready  to  make 
sales  in  the  following  spring;  but  it  was  not  until  December  23,  1853, 
four  years  later,  that  they  put  their  lots  upon  the  market.  I  have 
already  stated  that  this  long  delay  may  have  been  due  to  the  desire  of 
the  Trustees  to  see  what  was  to  be  done  about  a  railroad.  Col.  Taylor 
had  come  west  and  to  Chicago  in  the  year  1846.  We  find  his  name 
entered  on  the  roll  of  attorneys  of  the  Supreme  Court  at  its  April  term 
of  that  year,  at  Ottawa.  At  the  same  time  the  names  of  General  Isham 
N.  Haynie  and  General  Lewis  B.  Parsons  were  entered  upon  the  same 


6o HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

roll.  From  that  time  on,  Col.  Taylor  was  hard  at  work  in  the  west 
and  perhaps  in  the  east  also  for  the  Trustees  and  no  doubt  chiefly  for 
and  on  behalf  of  their  railroad  enterprise.  He  had  an  office  with  Mr. 
Justin  Butterfield  in  Chicago  and  with  him  and  a  number  of  others  a 
great  deal  of  work  was  done  in  and  out  of  congress  to  further  their 
plans  for  a  railroad.  The  Trustees  and  shareholders  in  the  Cairo 
enterprise  knew  very  well  what  a  railroad  meant  to  them.  They  knew 
that  from  the  very  beginning  in  1835  and  1836,  the  Cairo  scheme  was 
practically  one  and  the  same  with,  or  was  a  part  of,  the  Central  Railroad 
undertaking.  The  two  had  gone  along  together  until  the  upper  part 
of  the  state  had  become  able  to  sever  them;  and  even  then  when  the 
Cairo  managers  had  been  pushed  aside,  they  worked  on,  both  in  the 
east  and  in  the  west,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  caring  only  to  have 
the  southern  terminus  fixed  at  this  point. 

Confirmatory  of  what  we  have  said  above  about  the  delay  in  offering 
lots  for  sale  and  the  interest  the  Trustees  and  shareholders  had  in  the 
contemplated  railroad,  we  quote  here  a  paragraph  in  a  lengthy  paper 
written  by  Col.  Taylor  many  years  before  his  death.  It  traces  the 
titles  to  the  Cairo  lands  and  gives  almost  every  important  transaction, 
with  the  date  thereof,  including  deeds,  acts  of  incorporation  and  other 
laws  from  February  25,  1816,  to  June  30,  1880.  The  somewhat 
lengthy  entry  under  date  of  May  10,  1876,  is  as  follows: 

The  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  having  expended  in  making  material 
improvements  about  Cairo  $1,307,021.42,  of  which  the  sum  of  $184,505.64  was 
expended  upon  the  Ohio  levee,  the  sum  of  $149,973.23  upon  the  Mississippi  levee, 
the  sum  of  $70,455.06  upon  the  protection  of  the  Mississippi  River  bank,  the  sum 
of  $571,534.08  upon  general  improvements  and  $330,553.41  upon  taxes  and  assess- 
ments, found  themselves  unable  to  pay  the  loans  negotiated  in  1863  and  1867,  and 
the  mortgages  were  therefore  foreclosed  and  the  property  of  the  trust  sold  out  to 
the  bond  holders.  The  entire  receipts  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property, 
from  sales,  rents,  wharfage  and  all  other  sources  have  been  used  in  improvements 
and  other  expenditures  at  Cairo,  except  luhat  was  required  to  repay  in  New  York 
moneys  borrowed  at  the  beginning  of  the  trust,  about  1848,  to  defray  expenses 
connected  principally  with  arrangements  and  legislation  for  procuring  from 
congress  the  grant  of  land  to  the  state  to  build  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and 
for  payment  of  interest  on  loans  negotiated  in  1863  and  1867. 

This  congressional  grant  of  September  20,  1850,  was  followed  by 
the  incorporation  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  February 
10,  1851;  and  February  17,  1851,  the  Holbrook  people  surrendered  all 
their  railroad  rights  of  every  kind  to  the  state  in  behalf  of  the  new 
railroad  enterprise ;  and  at  the  end  of  two  months  more.  Col.  Taylor  was 
in  Cairo  to  take  charge  and  push  forward  the  matter  of  starting  and 
building  a  city.  It  is  thus  clearly  seen  how  all  these  matters  and  things 
fit  together  and  make  one  and  the  same  scheme.  They  could  build  no 
town — could  not  even  start  one  until  they  knew  certainly  what  could 
be  told  the  public  at  large  concerning  a  railroad.  Some  preliminary 
work  had  been  done  in  the  way  of  making  surveys,  plats,  drawings,  etc., 
but  as  for  the  platting  or  mapping  for  a  city  or  for  the  sale  of  lots  nothing 
could  be  safely  done,  except  in  a  very  provisional  way.  The  Trustees 
lost   no   time   in    arranging   with    the    railroad    company   for    terminal 


THE  CAIRO  CITY  AND  CANAL  COMPANY  6i 

facilities  in  consideration  of  obtaining  good  levees  to  protect  the  site 
from  the  inroads  of  the  rivers ;  nor  did  they  think  it  wise  to  offer  lots  or 
lands  for  sale  until  the  levee  work  was  well  under  way  and  assurances 
given  purchasers  of  the  safety  of  the  city's  site.  We  are  thus  brought 
down  to  December  23,  1853,  and  are  shown  that  the  plan  of  the 
Trustees  was  never  that  of  the  Holbrook  management. 

Little  was  done  during  this  period,  as  already  stated,  besides  pre- 
serving as  best  they  could  what  was  left  over.  It  was  during  the  latter 
part  of  this  period  of  seven  and  a  quarter  years  that  an  attempt  was 
made  in  the  legislature  to  incorporate  the  "Cairo  City  Property," 
namely,  in  the  year  1852. 

The  first  section  of  the  act  is  in  these  words : 

Section  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois  represented  in 
the  General  Assembly  that  Porter  William  Rawle,  Sidney  Breese,  William  R. 
Porter,  Robert  J.  Walker,  Miles  A.  Gilbert,  David  J.  Baker,  Hamilton  Brewer, 
Kenneth  McKenzie,  P.  Strachan,  Elihu  H.  Townsend,  Darius  B.  Holbrook,  Garret 
K.  Barry,  John  A.  Willink,  Hiram  Ketchum,  F.  R.  Sherman,  and  their  associates, 
successors  and  assigns,  be  and  they  are  hereby  made  a  body  corporate  and  politic 
under  the  name  of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  and  by  that  name  and  style  shall  be 
and  are  hereby  made  capable  in  law  and  equity  to  sue  and  be  sued,  plead  and 
be  impleaded,  defend  and  be  defended  in  any  court  or  place  whatsoever,  to  make 
and  use  a  common  seal,  the  same  to  alter  and  renew  at  pleasure  and  by  that 
name  and  style  be  capable  in  law  of  contracting  and  being  contracted  with, 
purchasing,  holding  and  conveying  real  and  personal  estate  for  the  purposes  and 
uses  of  said  corporation,  etc.,  etc. 

This  section  restricts  the  right  of  the  company  to  own  real  estate  to 
fractional  township  seventeen,  and,  in  particular,  authorizes  them  to 
purchase  and  hold  those  particular  tracts  of  land  and  the  improvements 
thereon  known  as  the  Cairo  Citj^  Property  and  then  held  and  represented 
by  Thomas  S.  Taylor,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Charles  Davis,  of  New 
York,  as  Trustees,  and  to  lay  off  said  lands  into  lots  for  a  town  to  be 
known  as  the  City  of  Cairo,  whenever  a  plan  of  said  city  is  made. 
Said  section  further  authorizes  the  construction  of  dykes,  canals,  levees 
and  embankments  for  the  security'  and  preservation  of  the  city  and 
lands  and  all  improvements  thereon  from  all  and  every  inundation 
which  can  possibly  affect  or  injure  the  same.  The  second  section 
limits  the  capital  stock  to  fifty  thousand  shares  of  one  hundred  dollars 
each  and  vests  the  immediate  government  and  direction  of  affairs  in  a 
board  of  not  less  than  five  trustees.  There  are  twelve  or  thirteen 
sections  in  the  act.  The  ninth  one  granted  some  favors  with  regard 
to  taxes.  The  eleventh  section  confers  the  power  to  adopt  ordinances 
and  regulations  in  regard  to  the  public  health  and  to  make  and  collect 
such  charges  for  dockage  and  wharfage  as  the  said  company  may  deem 
proper,  not  exceeding  the  rates  established  at  St.  Louis.  The  twelfth 
section  seems  to  authorize  the  county  court  of  the  county  to  erect  another 
jail,  the  same  to  be  within  the  City  of  Cairo  and  to  be  under  the  control 
of  the  county;  but  not  at  its  expense.  It  seems  to  be  implied  that  the 
company  created  by  the  act  would  pay  for  the  erection  of  the  jail. 

The  bill  seems  to  have  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  June  11, 
1 85 1.     But  when  it  reached  the  Senate  it  was  so  changed  and  amended 


62 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

as  to  be  scarcely  recognizable.  The  whole  of  section  ten,  authorizing 
the  company  to  establish  and  maintain  ferries,  was  stricken  out.  The 
senator  from  Johnson  County,  Major  A.  J.  Kuykendall,  said  he  would 
vote  for  the  bill  if  it  could  be  amended  in  some  satisfactory  way.  He  did 
not  want  to  confer  upon  the  company  "municipal  powers  equal  to  those 
exercised  by  the  City  of  Alton."  Senator  Odam  offered  an  amendment 
requiring  the  act  to  be  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people  of  the  county. 
Kuykendall's  amendment  striking  out  the  provision  in  regard  to  con- 
ferring upon  the  company  the  powers  possessed  by  the  City  of  Alton 
and  Odam's  amendment  requiring  the  act  to  be  submitted  to  the  voters 
of  the  county  were  adopted ;  and  thereupon,  on  motion  of  Kuykendall, 
the  bill  as  amended  was  laid  on  the  table.  On  the  motion  to  adopt 
the  above  amendments,  eighteen  senators  voted  for  them  and  four 
against.  The  eighteen  were  Cloud,  Grass,  Gregg,  Gridley,  Kuyken- 
dall, Lansing,  Mateson,  Odam,  Palmer,  Parkes,  Plato,  Reddick,  Stuart, 
Talcott,  Wallace,  Webster,  Wood,  and  Wynn.  Those  voting  the  other 
way  were  Judd,  Morrison,  Osborne,  and  Richmond.  It  seems  that  the 
bill  for  an  act  to  incorporate  the  City  of  Cairo,  of  which  we  have 
spoken  elsewhere,  was  pending  at  this  time  and  that  the  same  failed 
of  passage  because  of  some  peculiar  provision  relative  to  the  selection  of 
the  first  city  council  and  their  long  term  of  office,  which  was  to  be 
five  years. 

I  would  like  to  devote  more  space  to  this  period  from  June  ii,  1846, 
to  December  23,  1853,  but  I  cannot  do  so.  Judging  by  the  attempt 
of  the  Trustees,  in  1852,  to  have  the  "Cairo  City  Property"  and  also 
the  City  of  Cairo  incorporated  and  their  failure  as  to  both,  and  judging 
also  by  many  other  matters  and  things,  it  must  be  inferred  that  they 
were,  at  least  in  one  sense  of  the  word,  feeling  their  way  along.  It 
was  not  until  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  was  well  under  way  of  con- 
struction that  the  Trustees  and  the  public  began  to  feel  strong  assurance 
of  a  prosperous  future  for  the  city. 


Showing  the  Southern  termirtation 

®  cftLe 

ILLIIMOIS    CENTRAL  RAIL  ROAD 
at   CAIRO. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Cairo's  site  and  its  abrasions  by  the  rivers — levees  and  levee 
construction highest   known    floods 

EVER  since  the  government  survey  of  our  township  in  1807,  it  has 
been  known  that  while  the  Ohio  River  shore  remains  fairly 
stable  and  unchangeable,  the  Mississippi,  on  the  contrary, 
devours  its  banks  and  changes  its  current  from  place  to  place  unless 
restrained  in  and  by  some  of  the  various  means  adopted  to  stay  its 
ravages.  There  is  now  no  telling  when  it  was  first  observed  by  persons 
in  anywise  interested  here  that  the  Mississippi  side  of  this  site  needed 
to  be  watched  and  its  cutting  away  by  the  river  carefully  guarded 
against.  The  matter  received  close  attention  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Holbrook  administration  in  1836.  So  carefully  had  the  situation 
been  examined  that  it  was  strongly  urged  in  and  out  of  the  legislature 
that  the  southern  terminus  of  the  state's  Central  Railroad  should  be 
removed  from  Cairo  to  some  point  near  Caledonia  on  the  Ohio,  twelve 
or  fifteen  miles  above  Cairo.     See  Chapter  VI. 

The  cutting  by  the  Mississippi  had  the  careful  attention  of  the  Trus- 
tees, and  their  numerous  engineers  made  their  best  efforts  to  devise  plans 
to  arrest  it.  Resort  was  had  from  time  to  time  to  spur  dikes  of  broken 
stone,  placed  at  different  points  on  the  river  shore  and  extending  down 
stream  at  a  small  angle  to  the  shore  line.  In  this  way  it  was  sought  to 
force  the  current  away  from  the  bank.  These  dikes  served  a  good  pur- 
pose, no  doubt,  but  they  failed  to  prove  an  effective  remed3^  From 
failure  to  keep  a  close  watch  upon  the  situation  or  rather  to  make  the 
needed  repairs,  the  river  worked  in  behind  the  ridges  of  broken  stone, 
and  it  was  not  very  long  until  the  stone  piles  were  found  to  be  out  in 
the  stream.  The  situation  was  never  ver\'  good,  and  it  finally  became 
so  bad  as  to  produce  some  considerable  anxiety  not  to  say  alarm  on  the 
part  of  the  people.  They  had  trusted  the  whole  matter  to  the  Trustees, 
who  claimed  exclusive  ownership  of  the  banks  and  shores  from  Cache 
River  on  the  Ohio  to  a  point  on  the  Mississippi  opposite  the  present 
Beech  Ridge.  Moreover,  many  of  the  leading  men  in  the  town  insisted 
strongly  that  the  Trustees  had  obligated  themselves  not  only  to  build 
and  maintain  sufficient  levees  but  to  protect  them  and  the  city  from 
the  abrasions  of  the  rivers.  It  is  probable  that  the  Trustees  would 
have  done  much  more  than  they  did  had  not  their  means  been  very 
limited.  In  the  year  1874,  the  river  seemed  to  have  entered  upon  a  sea- 
son of  unusual  voracity,  which  it  maintained  steadily  during  the  years 
1875  and  1876.  It  pushed  the  rock  piles  out  of  its  way  or  rather  worked 
In  behind  them  and  soon  undermined  the  levee  for  a  long  distance  north- 

63 


64  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

ward  from  a  point  where  the  present  Thirty-Third  Street,  if  extended 
westward,  would  intersect  the  present  Mississippi  shore.  The  Cairo  & 
St.  Louis  Railroad,  then  very  recently  finished  and  extending  along  the 
Mississippi  levee,  had  to  be  moved  back  from  time  to  time,  thus  en- 
croaching upon  adjacent  cornfields  and  other  private  premises.  That 
company,  like  the  Trustees,  was  too  weak  financially  to  resist  the 
river's  advances.  Many  of  us  will  remember  what  a  time  it  was  and 
how  the  city  in  1876  set  about  building  what  is  now  called  the  new 
levee  on  New  Levee  Street.  We  all  then  thought  it  was  very  bad ; 
but  the  further  we  get  away  from  it,  the  discouraging  and  dangerous 
situation  seems  to  grow  upon  us  and  to  impress  more  and  more  upon  us 
the  vital  importance  of  not  allowing,  under  any  circumstances,  that 
treacherous  river  to  get  the  start  of  us  again.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
government  aid  was  sought,  and  it  is  due  to  our  congressmen  and 
a  few  of  our  leading  citizens  here,  who  worked  hard  and  incessantly 
and  obtained  that  government  aid  which  was  so  greatly  needed  and  which 
has  had  the  effect  of  allaying,  perhaps  too  much,  all  of  our  fears.  We 
must  not  depend  too  much  upon  others.  Congressional  aid  comes  very 
slowly  and  sometimes  in  small  quantities,  and  sometimes  not  at  all. 
This  western  side  of  the  city  is  its  vital  point.  It  has  been  that,  so  far 
as  the  site  is  concerned,  for  seventy  years.  It  is  time  for  that  feature 
of  our  situation  to  pass  away  or  so  to  change  that  we  shall  cease  to 
have  any  apprehension.  The  government  policy  is  not  well  established 
— not  up  to  this  time.  It  has  to  do  only  with  the  interest  of  naviga- 
tion, it  is  often  said,  and  the  land-owners  and  others  must  take  care  of 
themselves. 

One  of  Col.  Taylor's  reasons  for  his  contract  with  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company  of  July  18,  1872,  by  which  that  company  was  re- 
leased from  the  obligations  of  its  contracts  of  February  11,  1851,  and  of 
May  31,  1855,  was  that  he  expected  to  obtain  from  the  Cairo  &  St. 
Louis  Railroad  Company  a  contract  binding  it  to  keep  up  and  maintain 
not  only  the  Mississippi  levee,  upon  which  its  track  was  laid,  but  to 
protect  the  levee  against  the  abrasion  of  the  river.  He  failed  to  obtain 
such  a  contract  or  a  contract  upon  which  such  construction  could  be 
placed;  and  that  company,  having  wholly  failed  and  all  of  its  property 
having  been  sold  in  a  foreclosure  proceeding  and  transferred  to  the 
new  company,  the  St.  Louis  &  Cairo  Railroad  Company,  stripped  of 
all  objections  of  any  kind,  that  source  of  help  or  protection,  whatever 
it  might  have  been,  has  long  since  passed  away.  Col.  Taylor  knew  all 
about  the  Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  Company,  for  he  was  its  first 
president.  He  himself  knew  and  said  it  was  not  able  to  build  a 
standard  gauge  railroad,  but  could  only  build  one  of  a  narrow  or  three 
foot  gauge;  and  why  he  or  his  Trustees  found  it  best  td  let  out  the 
Illinois  Central,  one  of  the  strongest  companies  in  the  United  States, 
and  take  in  its  place  one  of  the  weakest  therein,  is  scarcely  conceivable, 
excepting  on  the  theory  that  the  Trustees  were  in  great  need  of  the 
$80,000  they  got   from  the  railroad  company.     Those  contracts  were 


CAIRO'S  SITE,  AND  ABRASIONS  BY  RIVERS         65 

as  levees  to  the  city.  They  were  plain  enough  as  to  all  essential  and 
vital  features.  The  levees  the  railroad  company  was  to  build  and 
maintain  in  perpetuity  were  to  encompass  the  city  or  the  site  thereof 
and  were  to  be  of  the  width  of  80  feet  on  the  top  and  sufficiently 
high  to  keep  out  the  highest  waters  known. 

To  say  that  the  railroad  company  overreached  the  Trustees  would 
not  be  correct.  The  latter  knew  what  they  were  doing  as  well  as  the 
former;  and  these  contracts,  which  the  two  made  at  the  very  outstart 
of  their  existence  and  which  both  believed  to  be  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance to  their  city,  were  mutually  annulled  to  the  mutual  satisfaction  of 
both  of  them,  but  to  the  never-ending  damage  and  injury  to  the  City 
of  Cairo  and  its  people.  About  the  only  answer  the  Trustees  ever 
made  to  this  charge  was  that  the  affair  was  a  matter  of  their  own  busi- 
ness and  of  nobody  else.  From  1851  to  i860  or  later,  they  said  the  very 
contrary  in  their  innumerable  circulars  and  advertising  pamphlets.  Col. 
Taylor  as  much  as  conceded  that  some  explanation  was  due  the  public, 
and  hence  what  he  said  about  what  he  hoped  to  get  from  the  Cairo  & 
St.  Louis  Railroad  Company  in  lieu  of  his  contract  with  the  Illinois 
Central. 

Capt.  Henry  C.  Long  was  the  civil  engineer  of  the  Trustees  and 
of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  for  many  years  here  at  Cairo. 
The  Trustees  had  instructed  him  to  make  a  careful  survey  of  the  site 
of  the  present  city  of  Cairo  and  to  report  fully  in  regard  to  the  same, 
especially  in  regard  to  river  abrasions  and  the  necessary  levee  construc- 
tion. The  work  seems  to  have  been  done  under  the  supervision  of  his 
father.  Col.  Stephen  Harriman  Long,  United  States  Topographical 
Engineer  and  Superintendent  of  Western  River  Improvements,  with 
headquarters  at  Louisville,  Kentucky.  His  report  bears  date  September 
2,  1850,  and  is  directed  to  Col.  Long,  and  the  same  was  laid  before  the 
Trustees,  Taylor  and  Davis,  by  a  letter  dated  at  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
September  4,  1850.  It  is  probably  the  most  full  and  carefully  prepared 
report  that  was  ever  made  relative  to  Cairo,  its  site,  its  dangers  from 
abrasions,  the  remedies  against  the  same,  and  the  extent,  height  and 
width  of  needed  levees.  It  would  make  twenty-five  pages  of  this  book 
and  is  accompanied  by  a  number  of  diagrams  or  descriptive  drawings. 
We  give  only  those  pages  of  the  report  describing  the  drawings,  as 
follows : 

Draiving  No.  /.—"Chart  of  Cairo  and  its  Environs."  This  drawing  is 
intended  to  give  a  general  view  of  the  position  and  configuration  of  the 
shores,  islands,  etc.,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers;  it  also 
represents  the  true  geographical  position  of  the  city  of  Cairo;  a  general  plan  of 
its  interior  arrangement  with  reference  to  streets,  public  squares,  levees,  railroads, 
etc.;  the  relative  distance  and  localities  of  "Ohio  City,"  the  town  of  "Trinity" 
mouth  of  "Cash"  river  etc.  The  scale  is  1,000  feet  to  one  inch.  The  lines  of 
survey,  triangulation,  etc.,  are  traced  in  faint  dotted  lines,  and  are  sufficiently 
apparent  on  the  drawing,  without  a  more  minute  description. 

Draining  No.  I,  Fig.  2,  represents  on  a  scale  of  ten  feet  to  one  inch,  a,  cross 
section  of  proposed  levee,  with  its  stone  escarpment,  etc.,  a  full  description  of 
which  will  be  given  in  an  after  part  of  this  report. 


66  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Draiving  No.  2. — "Topographical  sketch  of  Cairo."  This  drawing  is 
constructed  on  double  the  scale  of  No.  i,  being  500  feet  to  one  inch;  it  is 
consequently  more  minute  in  its  details,  representing  accurately  the  appearance 
of  Cairo  at  the  time  of  the  survey.  The  foundries,  work  shops,  hotels,  houses, 
etc.,  are  assigned  their  true  positions;  the  proportion  of  cultivated,  cleared,  and 
timber  land  is  accurately  given ;  the  length,  position,  and  general  appearance  of  • 
the  levees  are  clearly  defined,  and  in  connection  therewith,  the  true  position  and 
extent  of  the  three  natural  ridges,  extending  across  the  city  site.  All  of  the  topog- 
raphy is  the  result  of  actual  survey — no  attempt  being  made  at  mere  embellish- 
ment, and  no  lines  or  marks  introduced  which  a  careful  attention  to  the  natural 
features  of  the  ground  would  not  authorize. 

The  line  marked  Crevasse  is  the  one  to  which  I  would  call  your  particular 
attention,  as  requiring  immediate  consideration.  At  this  locality  the  abrasion  is 
taking  place.  The  levee  at  this  place  should  be  repaired,  or  rather  reconstructed 
with  all  possible  dispatch; — the  distance  marked  is  1,675  feet,  but  as  it  is  recom- 
mended to  locate  the  new  levee  further  from  the  river  bank,  (in  the  position 
given  in  Drawing  No.  1,)  this  distance  will  be  somewhat  increased — but  the 
entire  cost  of  the  work  is  trifling,  as  shown  in  the  subjoined  estimates,  and  its 
necessity  urgent. 

It  may  be  pertinent  to  state  in  this  connection,  that  this  crevasse  is  said  to 
have  commenced  in  the  spring  of  1847,  and  has  been  suffered  to  increase  since  that 
time  without  any  attempt  at  repairs.  From  1843,  the  time  of  first  completion  of 
the  chain  of  levees,  to  1847,  the  enclosed  portion  of  Cairo  was  secure  from  over- 
floods,  the  levees  with  all  their  imperfections  having  up  to  that  time  served 
as  a  complete  protection. 

Draining  No.  2,  Fig.  2. — "Section  on  Crevasse;"  scale  vertical,  20  feet  to  one 
inch.  Horizontal,  200  feet  to  one  inch ;  constructed  from  levels  taken  over  natural 
surfaces,  showing  the  amount  of  embankment  necessary  to  bring  the  repairs  of 
crevasse  to  level  of  Mississippi  Levee;  also  showing  the  height  of  Mississippi  and 
cross  levees  above  water  surface  at  time  of  surveys. 

Draiving  No.  3. — "Plot  of  the  City  of  Cairo."  Scale  500  feet  to  i  inch. 
This  drawing  gives  a  plan  of  the  city  on  a  larger  scale  and  more  in  detail 
than  represented  on  Chart  No.  i.  The  blocks  generally  are  420  feet  square,  in- 
clusive of  two  20-feet  alleys  intersecting  each  block  at  right  angles.  The  streets 
are  60  feet  in  width,  Avith  the  exception  of  the  avenues,  which  are  120  feet  wide. 
From  a  careful  study  of  the  nature  of  the  city  site,  and  a  comparison  of  most 
approved  plans,  this  is  considered  the  best  arrangement  that  can  be  offered  in 
point  of  economy  of  room,  convenience  for  business  purposes,  perfect  ventilation 
and  drainage.  From  the  direction  given  to  the  principal  streets  and  avenues, 
they  will  generally  command  a  fine  breeze,  which,  during  a  great  proportion  of 
the  year  prevails  from  the  south  and  west.  The  blocks  designated  by  circles,  are 
recommended  as  suitable  positions  for  public  squares.  A  commodious  park  may 
be  obtained  at  the  point,  marked  on  the  Plot  "Crescent  Park,"  by  extending  the 
lino  as  shown  on  the  drawing,  and  reclaiming  a  valuable  portion  of  land,  now 
entirely  useless. 

It  is  contemplated  to  introduce  along  the  line  of  Commercial  Avenue,  a  rail- 
road track,  which  will  pass  northerly  from  the  lower  extremity  of  Cairo  to  a  con- 
nection with  the  Great  Western  Railroad  of  Illinois — the  depot  being  located  at 
the  intersection  of  this  avenue  with  "Adams  Avenue"  on  the  triangular  block 
marked  on  the  Plot  "Main  Railroad  Depot."  Other  connections  can  be  made 
with  the  Western  Railroad,  as  distinctly  shown  in  Chart  No.  i,  giving  to  this 
city  incalculable  facilities  of  communication  with  the  interior  of  the  State  of 
Illinois. 

The  works  required  in  order  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  the  evils  occasioned 
by  the  crevasse,  and  to  afford  a  more  perfect  protection  against  overflows  than 
they  have  heretofore  imparted,  are  as  follows,  viz.: 

(Here  follows  a  detailed  statement  or  estimate  of  the  expense  of 
raising  the  Ohio  levee  eighteen  inches  and  of  culverts  or  sewers  of 
masonry  through  the  Ohio  levee  and  of  the  elevation  of  the  Mississippi 


CAIRO'S  SITE,  AND  ABRASIONS  BY  RIVERS         67 

levee  the  same  as  the  Ohio  and  of  the  construction  of  a  new  levee  to 
connect  the  Mississippi  levee  with  the  cross  levee  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  yards  from  the  margin  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  parallel 
thereto,  and  of  the  enlargement  and  increased  elevation  of  the  cross 
levee  and  of  the  restoration  of  the  levee  where  the  crevasse  existed 
on  the  west  as  shown  in  drawing  No.  2.) 

A  copy  of  "Drawing  No.  2,  Topographical  Sketch  of  Cairo,"  is  found 
on  another  page ;  and  I  may  here  remark  that  the  copies  of  the  maps  and 
plats  contained  in  the  book  contain  a  great  deal  of  information  which 
I  have  not  deemed  necessary  to  state  or  repeat.  An  examination  of 
them  will  answer  many  questions  which  would  otherwise  seem  very 
pertinent. 

Col.  Long  must  have  been,  in  some  way  or  other,  in  the  service  of 
the  Trustees,  or  he  must  have  been  specially  directed  by  government 
authority  to  give  careful  attention  to  the  two  rivers  here  and  the  site 
of  the  city.  His  son,  Capt.  Ivong,  as  above  stated,  was  in  the  service  of 
the  Trustees  and  just  why  his  report,  which  was  for  them,  should  be 
directed  to  Col.  Long,  1  do  not  know. 

Col.  Long  was  at  the  head  of  the  expedition  sent  out  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  in  1819,  by  the  secretary  of  state,  John  C.  Calhoun,  under 
President  Monroe.  The  members  of  the  party  embarked  on  the  Ohio 
at  Pittsburg  on  the  steamboat  "Western  Engineer."  They  reached 
Cairo  on  the  30th  day  of  May,  18 19.  They  seem  to  have  stopped  some 
time  at  America,  which  was  then  starting  out  with  strong  hopes  of  be- 
coming quite  a  cit)^  claiming  as  it  did  to  be  the  head  of  navigation. 
While  there  Col.  Long  purchased  a  number  of  lots  and  tAvo  or  three 
years  afterwards  purchased  others.  They  passed  Cairo  and  went  on  to 
St.  Louis  and  up  the  Missouri  River  and  thence  to  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
the  highest  peak  of  which  was  given  the  name  of  Long,  and  has  ever 
since  been  called  "Long's  Peak."  It  was  supposed  then  to  be  the  highest 
peak  of  that  range  of  mountains,  and  while  it  is  put  down  upon  the 
present  maps  as  higher  than  Pike's  Peak,  it  does  not  seem  to  be  the 
highest.  The  occount  of  this  expedition  was  written  by  Mr.  Edwin 
James  and  is  contained  in  volumes  ten  to  fourteen  of  Dr.  Thwaites' 
"Early  Western  Travels,"  now  in  our  public  library.  We  will  refer 
to  Capt.  Henry  C.  Long  in  another  chapter. 

Long  entertained  no  fear  of  the  Ohio  side  of  the  site  causing  any 
considerable  trouble.  I  may,  however,  remark  here  that  the  Ohio  side 
was  neglected  so  long  that  very  considerable  inroads  were  made  a  num- 
ber of  years  ago  upon  the  bank  at  a  number  of  places,  in  particular, 
that  part  of  the  bank  or  shore  extending  from  Eighth  to  Fourteenth 
Streets.  Then,  too,  at  points  above  the  city,  there  have  been  from  time 
to  time  very  considerable  abrasions,  but  none  of  such  character  as  to 
attract  much  attention.  The  difference  between  the  two  rivers  con- 
sists chiefly  in  the  clearer  water  and  the  slow  movement  of  the  one  and 


68  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

the  more  rapid  and  whirling  current  of  the  other,  loaded  down  with 
sand  and  silt.  On  the  Ohio  side,  betvveen  Eighth  and  Fourteenth 
Streets,  nothing  at  all  was  done  until  it  became  evident  Ohio  Street 
would  be  cut  in  two  and  destroyed.  The  same  thing  that  had  taken 
place  on  the  Mississippi  side,  in  1874,  1875  and  1876,  was  taking  place 
on  the  Ohio  shore  but  to  a  comparatively  limited  extent.  The  similarity 
consisted  in  neglect  to  adopt  and  carry  out  remedial  measures  to  arrest 
the  abrasions.  On  the  Ohio  side  the  danger  was  perhaps  a  little  more 
immediate.  The  cutting  had  reached  the  street  line  and  just  inside  of 
the  street,  of  the  width  of  eighty  feet,  stood  the  line  of  business  houses, 
which  would  no  doubt  have  been  reached  in  the  course  of  a  very  few 
years  had  the  supineness  of  the  Trustees,  the  railroad  company  and  the 
city  continued  much  longer.  The  situation  led  to  an  investigation 
to  ascertain  whose  duty  it  was  to  protect  the  levee  embankment  and  the 
street  thereon.  It  seems  to  have  been  concluded  that  the  duty  rested 
on  the  railroad  company  and  the  Trustees  under  their  contracts  of  June 
II,  1 85 1  and  May  31,  1855.  All  three  of  the  parties,  however,  denied 
liability.  In  this  matter,  as  in  many  others,  the  city  and  the  people 
found  the  Trustees  and  the  railroad  company  much  disposed  to  act 
together;  but  the  situation  was  so  plainly  to  be  seen,  so  much  like  the 
midday  sun  in  a  cloudless  sky,  that  the  three  parties  got  together,  in 
political  phrase,  and  compromised  the  controversy  by  each  agreemg  to 
pay  one-third  of  the  expense.  Thomas  W.  Halliday  was  the  mayor 
then,  and  friendly  to  Col.  Taylor,  the  resident  Trustee,  his  father-in- 
law,  and  also  to  the  railroad  company.  Tom  firmly  believed  that  more 
could  be  done  by  conciliatory  means,  by  friendly  negotiations,  and  by 
compromises,  than  by  stout  words  and  lawsuits.  This  was  Tom's 
uniform  method  of  procedure.  He  did  not  own  the  city  council,  but 
had  he  owned  it,  the  unanimity  could  not  have  been  more  unanimous. 
One  of  our  newspapers  called  attention,  now  and  then,  to  the  harmo- 
nious agreement  that  generally  prevailed  under  Tom's  administrations, 
of  which  there  were  five  or  six.  While  such  a  state  of  things  does  not 
always  argue  well,  it  is,  as  a  general  rule,  far  better  than  factious 
opposition  and  frequent  bickerings,  conditions  we  often  see  in  municipal 
legislative  bodies. 

These  three  parties  took  hold  of  the  embarrassing  situation,  and  no 
doubt  did  the  best  they  could.  They  did  nothing  to  the  river  or  to  the 
shore  line  or  its  slope.  They  simply  constructed  a  stone  wall  at  the 
east  line  or  margin  of  Ohio  Street  and  extended  it  to  the  height  of  four 
or  five  feet  above  the  street  level.  It  was  to  serve  the  double  purpose 
of  stopping  the  cutting  at  or  near  the  upper  line  of  the  bank  when  the 
river  was  high,  and  to  keep  the  water  from  coming  over  the  levee  should 
it  rise  above  the  same.  It  has  no  doubt  prevented  the  cutting  caused 
by  high  water,  but  it  could  serve  no  good  purpose  where  there  was 
under-cutting  in  times  of  low  water.  Fortunately  there  has  been 
little  of  that  for  many  years.  How  long  the  high  stone  wall  will  stand 
on  the  sloping  shoulders  of  the  river  bank,  no  one  can  tell.  The  ever- 
existing  danger  is  that  its  great  weight,  coupled  with  a  softening  bank 


CAIRO'S  SITE,  AND  ABRASIONS  BY  RIVERS         69 

in  high  water  times,  may  carry  it  down.  In  those  contracts  above 
mentioned  will  be  found  provisions  which,  had  they  been  enforced, 
would  have  saved  the  city  its  share  of  the  expense  of  the  stone  wall  and 
have  stopped  the  cutting,  which  made  the  wall  necessary  or  something 
else  in  its  stead.  We  would  quote  a  few  paragraphs  from  those  con- 
tracts, but  it  would  require  much  space,  and  besides  the  matter  is  wholly 
one  of  history  and  need  not  be  presented  at  length.  It  was  the  same 
old  controversy  that  was  fought  over  in  the  United  States  court  at 
Springfield  in  the  suit  of  the  Trustees  against  the  railroad  company  to 
recover  for  moneys  expended  which  they  said  should  have  been  expended 
by  the  company.  That  suit  was  compromised  July  18,  1872,  and  the 
contracts  annulled.  The  Trustees  claimed  that  the  railroad  company 
should  construct  the  levees  and  put  a  stop  to  the  abrasions.  The  rail- 
road company  denied  everj'thing  it  could,  especially  the  claim  that  it 
should  protect  the  natural  banks  from  the  abrasions  of  the  rivers. 
The  two  litigants  seem  to  have  cared  for  no  one  and  nothing  but  them- 
selves, and  in  effect  said  to  the  people  of  the  city,  that  if  they  wanted 
levees  and  river-bank  protections  they  would  have  to  get  both  in  the 
easiest  and  best  way  they  could.  Judge  Bross,  in  1863,  began  a  suit  in 
equity  in  our  circuit  court  against  the  Trustees  to  procure,  if  possible, 
an  enforcement  of  some  of  the  provisions  of  those  contracts ;  but  he  was 
taken  off  to  the  United  States  court  at  Springfield  and  found  himself 
too  weak  to  cope  with  his  defendants,  supported  as  they  no  doubt  were 
by  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company.  He  had  cited  the  multitude 
of  circulars  and  other  representations  of  the  Trustees  concerning  the 
levees  and  levee  protection  and  the  perfect  security  the  purchasers  of 
lots  would  have  against  the  rivers,  either  high  or  low.  He  insisted 
that  the  purchasers  of  lots  had  a  right  to  rely  upon  the  representations 
which  had  led  them  to  m.ake  their  several  investments,  and  that  to  deny 
them  that  legal  right  would  be  a  great  injustice.  The  Trustees,  on  the 
other  hand,  replied  that  whatever  their  representations  were,  they  were 
not  of  a  contractual  nature,  and  that  whatever  became  of  the  levees 
themselves  or  of  the  natural  ground  upon  which  they  rested,  the  lot 
owners  could  have  no  recourse  on  them,  and  that  they  must  bear  their 
losses  as  best  they  could.  I  must  not  dwell  longer  on  this  feature  of 
Cairo's  history,  save  only  to  say  that  if  such  a  condition  ever  existed 
before  or  anywhere  else,  an  account  of  the  same  can  nowhere  be  found. 
The  situation  was  bare  of  any  qualifying  or  ameliorating  features. 


Returning  to  the  Ohio  River  abrasion  between  Eighth  and  Fourteenth 
Streets,  we  remark  that  the  stone  wall  would  never  have  become 
necessary  had  the  Trustees  done  what  they  often  promised  and  what 
they  started  once  or  twice  to  do,  and  that  was  to  extend  the  wharf  from 
8th  Street  to  14th  Street.  Many  years  ago  they  did  a  large  amount  of 
work  along  there  to  stop  the  cutting  during  low  water,  but  they  never 
undertook  to  do  any  systematic  work  in  the  way  of  filling  the  slope  and 
protecting  it  by  some  system  of  revetment.     They  owned  the  premises 


70 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

and  denied  the  right  of  the  city  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  river 
banks  or  the  levees.  They  were  private  property  to  be  kept  up  or  let 
go,  regardless  of  who  suffered  by  the  inroads  of  the  rivers.  In  the  place 
of  an  extension  of  the  wharf  and  the  improved  state  of  things  that  its 
extension  would  have  brought  about,  we  now  have  that  unsightly  gap 
in  the  river  bank  and  the  perpendicular  stone  wall  as  a  perpetual  re- 
minder of  the  needy  condition  in  which  the  city  was  placed  and  of 
the  parsimony  of  the  Trustees  and  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany. The  one  owned  the  river  bank  to  low-water  mark,  and  the 
other  for  all  practical  purposes  owned  Ohio  Street,  and  the  river  was 
destroying  both  subjects  of  ownership;  but  the  two  parties  knew  very 
well  who  was  in  most  danger,  they  or  the  people  of  the  city,  and  hence 
it  was  easy  to  get  the  latter  to  compromise.  The  situation  was  not 
unlike  that  which  existed  in  1874,  1875  and  1876,  when  a  long  stretch 
of  the  Mississippi  levee  went  into  the  river  and  what  is  now  called  new 
levee  had  to  be  built.  The  Trustees  owned  the  levees  which  the  rail- 
road company  had  built  for  them ;  but  their  interest  in  their  construction 
and  maintenance  seemed  to  change  as  their  sales  of  lots  and  lands 
became  less  and  less  and  their  conviction  increased  that  their  Cairo 
enterprise  would  never  come  up  to  their  expectations.  And,  therefore, 
some  years  ago  they  signified  to  the  city  that  it  could  have  the  levees  or 
most  of  them  if  it  would  assume  the  burden  of  their  maintenance.  The 
city  saw  that  it  was  in  a  strait  betwixt  two,  and  therefore  accepted  the 
donation,  which  was  no  doubt  quite  as  beneficial  to  the  donor  as  to  the 
donee. 

As  bearing  on  the  condition  of  the  levee  or  river  front,  from  Eighth 
Street  to  Fourteenth  Street,  and  the  matter  of  the  stone  wall,  I  quote 
here  from  Col.  Tajdor's  deposition  taken  in  1866  in  a  suit  between  the 
Trustees  and  the  city,  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  at  Springfield, 
to  show  that  it  was  part  of  the  original  plan,  agreed  upon  by  the  Trustees 
and  the  railroad  company,  that  the  river  front  should  be  graded  and 
paved  from  Eighth  Street  to  Fourteenth  Street,  the  same  as  from  Fourth 
Street  to  Eighth  Street: 

"Since  the  commencement  of  this  suit  about  $20,000  has  been  ex- 
pended by  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  in  constructing  a 
sustaining  wall  at  the  base  of  another  portion  of  the  same  slope,  which 
seemed  to  be  necessary  to  preserve  the  river  bank  from  abrasion.  To 
complete  the  sustaining  wall  at  the  base  of  the  remaining  part  below 
14th  Street  of  the  levee  and  complete  the  pavement  and  improvement 
of  the  slope  of  the  levee  to  14th  Street,  so  as  to  finish  it  as  a  wharf,  will 
still  require  the  expenditure  of  $150,000,  and  this  amount  the  Trustees 
of  the  Cairo  City  Property  had  procured  and  had  commenced  to  expend 
for  the  purpose  indicated  when  their  operations  were  arrested  by  the 
action  of  the  City  Council  of  the  City  of  Cairo  in  providing  for  the 
collection  of  wharfage  by  the  City  authorities.  The  Trustees  will 
proceed  to  expend  this  or  any  other  amount  necessary  to  complete  the 
wharf  to  14th  Street  as  soon  as  their  right  to  the  levee  is  confirmed  to 
them  and  will  extend  the  wharf  still  further  up  the  Ohio  as  the  public 
wants  may  demand." 


CAIRO'S  SITE,  AND  ABRASIONS  BY  RIVERS         71 

To  much  that  I  have  said  in  this  chapter  objection  will  no  doubt 
be  made;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  I  am  writing  a  history  of 
Cairo,  and  that  large  parts  of  it  relate  to  the  Trustees  and  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company.  It  was  their  city  by  birth  and  should 
have  been  theirs  for  nurture  and  not  for  exploitation.  I  might  have 
written  a  history  of  Cairo  and  filled  it  full  of  nice  things  about  every- 
body, corporations,  land-trusts  and  all;  but  it  would  not  have  been 
history.  Cairo's  history  is  a  history  of  facts,  hard  facts,  most  of  them 
and  most  of  the  time. 

I  need  not  say  much  about  levee  construction  in  addition  to  what  is 
here  and  there  found  in  other  parts  of  the  book. 

The  terminus  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  was  to  be  here.  The 
company  was  greatly  interested  in  the  work  of  building  a  city,  but  to  do 
that  and  to  protect  its  own  terminal  property  and  interests  it  was 
equally  interested  with  the  Trustees  in  having  the  best  of  levees  con- 
structed;  and  hence  those  never-to-be-forgotten  contracts  of  June  11, 
1851,  and  of  May  31,  1855.  By  these  contract?  the  railroad  company, 
by  the  deed  of  October  15,  1853,  had  obtained  extensive  and  very  valu- 
able grounds,  five  hundred  acres,  I  suppose,  and  for  these  lands  and  many 
important  privileges,  it  bound  itself  to  furnish  the  town  of  the  Trustees 
with  levees  encompassing  the  §ite  thereof  and  of  the  width  of  eighty 
(80)  feet  on  the  top  and  sufficiently  high  to  keep  out  the  highest  known 
floods. 

Many  years  ago,  I  procured  from  the  Harvard  College  library  a 
copy  of  the  plat  or  survey  of  Cairo's  site,  made  by  James  Thompson  in 
1837.  I  handed  it  to  Mr.  Charles  Thrupp,  who  had  resided  here  in 
Cairo  since  the  year  1850,  and  requested  him  to  indicate  thereon  the 
present  lines  or  shores  of  the  rivers.  He  did  so  and  returned  it  to  me, 
with  a  line  drawn  thereon  showing  how  much  the  shore  line  had  moved 
inward  on  both  sides  of  the  city,  since  1837.  According  to  the  line 
drawn  by  him  it  appeared  that  the  rivers  had  made  inroads  almost  at 
every  point  except  those  immediately  below^  the  city,  on  the  south  and 
southwest.  The  invasion  was  so  great  that  I  could  scarcely  believe  that 
the  line  was  correctly  drawn.  And  yet  it  would  not  be  so  difficult  to 
ascertain  the  loss  at  almost  every  point.  The  first  survey  of  the  town- 
ship was  made  in  1807,  and  the  acreage  given  in  each  congressional  sub- 
division or  fractional  part  thereof.  Other  surveys  were  made  prior  to 
1840  and  the  acreage  duly  ascertained;  and  it  is  very  probable  that  Mr. 
Thrupp  was  quite  well  enough  acquainted  with  the  quantity  of  lands 
in  the  different  divisions  to  enable  him  to  make  a  fairly  correct  estimate 
thereof. 

It  will  be  observed  that  here  and  elsewhere  I  have  said  much  about 
the  abrasions  of  the  rivers.  I  have  done  this  in  the  hope  of  impressing 
upon  the  minds  of  the  people  of  the  city  the  importance  of  giving  the 
closest  attention  to  the  action  of  the  rivers  upon  the  shores  or  banks 


72 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

adjacent  to  the  city.  It  may  be  said  that  the  matter  is  quite  obvious 
enough.  I  think  so;  but  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  time  and  time  again 
the  beginnings  of  abrasions  have  had  no  attention  given  them  until  the 
expense  of  the  needed  vv^ork  had  increased  many  fold. 

In  the  report  of  the  Trustees  of  October  i,  1884,  to  the  shareholders, 
it  was  stated  that  after  the  washing  away  of  the  Mississippi  River  bank 
in  the  fall  of  1875,  the  government  had  expended  in  the  protection  of  the 
bank  up  to  June  30,  1880,  $113,351.43,  and  that  the  expenditure  was 
made  upon  about  three  miles  of  the  river  bank,  commencing  a  short 
distance  below  our  old  cross  levee  and  extending  up  stream ;  and  further, 
that  the  abrasion  where  the  work  had  been  done  had  been  entirely 
arrested  and  that  w^hatever  abrasion  had  taken  place  since  was  below 
the  government  work.  The  report  further  stated  that  since  1851,  the 
total  erosion  prior  to  the  government  work  had  amounted  to  963.69 
acres,  and  that  since  the  work  was  done  most  of  the  land  had  been 
restored  to  them,  that  is,  the  Trustees.  The  report  went  on  to  say  that 
the  government  work  extended  but  a  short  distance  below  the  old  cross 
levee  and  not  down  to  the  place  where  the  levees  came  to  the  river  bank. 

The  Highest  Known  Floods.  Elsewhere  will  be  found  an  inter- 
esting table  showing  the  greatest  and  smallest  rainfalls,  the  highest  and 
lowest  temperatures,  and  the  highest  and  lowest  water  in  the  Ohio  River, 
at  Cairo,  since  the  year  1871.  This  table  was  prepared  for  me  by  Mr. 
William  E.  Barron,  Chief  of  the  Weather  Bureau  at  this  place,  and 
extends  over  the  period  of  thirty-nine  years.  We  place  it  in  the  book 
for  purposes  of  easy  reference. 

The  two  rivers  are  so  close  together  that  the  measure  of  the  elevation 
or  level  of  the  water  in  the  one  will  do  also  for  the  other.  The  Ohio 
River  water  gauge,  when  the  Ohio  is  high  and  the  Mississippi  low, 
measures  for  the  Ohio  only,  and  when  the  Mississippi  is  high  and  the 
Ohio  low  it  may  be  said  to  measure  for  the  Mississippi  only.  In  other 
words,  the  backwater  from  the  one  or  the  other  should  not  be  con- 
sidered as  giving  here  the  true  level  or  height  of  the  water  in  the  river 
into  which  the  backwater  flows.  It  may  also  be  remarked  that  while 
the  rivers  may  be  very  high  at  St.  Louis  or  at  Cincinnati,  Louisville  or 
Evansville  or  even  at  Paducah,  it  does  not  follow  that  they  will  be  high 
here  at  all.  High  water  at  those  places  seldom  attracts  attention  here; 
and  especially  is  this  the  case  with  the  Mississippi  River.  It  is  the  Ohio 
only  which  has  ever  given  the  city  of  Cairo  any  trouble  of  consequence. 
Even  when  both  rivers  are  high  at  one  and  the  same  time,  little  or  no 
notice  is  taken  of  the  matter  unless  the  Ohio  reaches  one  of  its  very 
highest  stages.  It  is  the  Ohio  that  claims  for  itself  the  right  to  rise 
and  fall  through  a  perpendicular  distance  of  fifty  feet.  The  Mississippi 
and  its  chief  tributaries  come  from  the  cold  regions  of  the  north  and 
their  high  waters  do  not  reach  Cairo  until  the  sun  is  well  up  in  the 
heavens  to  melt  the  northern  snows  and  raise  the  rivers  from  the  low 
and  frozen  levels  of  the  winter.     These  flood  waters  do  not  reach  Cairo 


CAIRO'S  SITE,  AND  ABRASIONS  BY  RIVERS         73 

as  a  general  thing  until  about  the  first  of  June  and  sometimes  consider- 
ably later.  The  Ohio,  on  the  contrary,  sends  down  its  flood  waters 
three  or  four  months  earlier.  The  highest  floods  ever  known  or  recorded 
were  those  of  1882,  1883  and  1884,  and  the  highest  point  reached  each 
time  did  not  vary  twent>^-four  hours  from  February  25th  of  each  of 
those  years.  As  elsewhere  stated,  the  Tennessee  is  the  largest  of  the 
Ohio's  tributaries.  It  is  a  large  river,  coming  out  of  Virginia,  West 
Virginia  and  Kentucky,  crossing  the  state  of  Tennessee  at  Knoxville 
and  entering  the  state  of  Alabama  near  Chattanooga  and  then  running 
for  some  distance  in  the  last  named  state  turns  northward  and  again 
crossing  the  state  of  Tennessee,  passes  for  the  distance  of  fifty  miles 
through  the  state  of  Kentucky  and  discharges  its  waters  into  the  Ohio 
just  fifty  miles  by  river  measurement  from  the  citj^  of  Cairo.  Just 
above  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee,  and  at  the  distance  of  twelve  miles, 
the  Cumberland  River  also  enters  the  Ohio.  These  rivers  and  the  Ohio's 
other  tributaries  are  filled  full  by  the  early  spring  rains,  which  are  much 
heavier  than  further  northward,  and  the  consequence  is  that  the  Ohio 
at  Cairo  is  seen  to  mount  up  at  a  rapid  rate  and  rush  forward  into  the 
Mississippi  at  a  speed  hardly  to  be  expected  considering  its  usually 
gentle  flow. 

We  read  accounts  of  great  floods  in  the  Mississippi  more  than  a 
hundred  years  ago;  but  as  before  stated,  great  floods  at  considerable  dis- 
tances above  Cairo,  in  either  river,  are  not  reliable  indications  of  what 
they  were  here.  At  St.  Louis  and  Kaskaskia  or  Ste.  Genevieve,  there 
were  great  overflows  in  1785,  181 5  and  1844,  and  at  many  other  times 
since.  As  to  the  flood  of  181 5  at  this  place,  it  is  said  that  the  water  was 
so  high  that  persons  rode  in  skiffs  or  other  boats  out  as  far  as  Charleston. 
Many  times  since  181 5,  the  water  across  the  river  in  Missouri  has  ex- 
tended far  out  over  the  adjoining  country,  but  none  so  far  as  Charleston, 
we  suppose.  In  1785,  Augustus  Chouteau  went  by  skifE  or  other  small 
boat  over  the  American  bottom  from  what  is  now  East  St.  Louis  to  Kas- 
kaskia; but  it  is  also  stated  that  the  flood  of  1844  "^^'^  higher  by  two 
feet  than  that  of  1785,  in  that  region  on  the  Mississippi.  The  over- 
flow of  1844  could  not  have  been,  for  this  region,  very  high;  for  it 
seems  to  be  a  well  established  fact  that  the  Cairo  levees  withstood  that 
flood  and  securely  protected  the  citj',  which  by  that  time  had  been 
reduced  to  verj^  small  proportions,  but  for  other  causes  than  high  rivers 
or  inundations.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult,  if  not  quite  impossible,  to 
reconcile  the  accounts  found  here  and  there  concerning  the  great  floods 
in  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  from  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohio  River.  When  we  consider  the  fact  that  we  have  no  very 
reliable  information  as  to  the  exact  height  of  the  Avater  here  at  Cairo 
prior  to  1867,  we  must  concede  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  exact  informa- 
tion at  other  points.  Such  information  would  be  found  to  exist  only 
where  immovable  monuments  of  some  kind  could  be  found  upon  which 
the  different  heights  of  the  water  had  been  carefully  inscribed. 


74  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

The  Floods  of  1832  and  1840. — The  English  bond-holders,  in 
1840,  sent  to  Cairo  Mr.  Septimus  Worsley,  of  London,  to  examine  and 
report  the  condition  of  things  he  found  here;  and  in  a  letter  dated 
Cairo,  Illinois,  July  14,  1840,  he  says,  speaking  of  the  levees: 

"The  measures,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Strickland,  are  perfectly  correct, 
and  I  have  practical  proof  that  if  the  proposed  bank  had  been  completed, 
the  site  of  the  City  of  Cairo  would  have  been  perfectly  protected  from 
this  year's  flood,  the  greatest  that  has  been  know^n  for  eight  years — the 
waters  at  their  highest  stage  not  having  reached  within  two  feet  of  the 
top  of  the  levee,  which  has  not  yet  in  any  place  been  carried  up  to  its 
proposed  height;  it  was  also  ascertained,  that  whilst  the  waters  higher 
up  the  river  were  rapidly  increasing,  the  waters  around  Cairo,  after 
they  had  attained  a  certain  height,  did  not  rise  more  than  an  inch 
during  the  day." 

The  Flood  of  1844. — As  elsewhere  stated,  Mr.  Miles  A.  Gilbert 
came  to  Cairo  in  June,  1843,  and  during  the  remainder  of  that  year  he 
constructed  the  cross  levee  extending  from  a  point  near  Eighteenth 
Street  and  Ohio  levee  out  westward  and  then  bearing  northward  and 
connecting  with  the  Mississippi  levee.  The  length  of  this  line  was  8670 
feet.  That  work  was  no  doubt  well  done,  for  it  and  the  other  levees 
seem  to  have  withstood  the  high  water  of  1844.  If  the  reader  will  turn 
to  the  topographical  map  of  Cairo  made  by  Mr.  Henry  C.  Long  Septem- 
ber 2,  1850,  he  will  see  the  lines  of  the  Cairo  levees  and  what  is  said 
thereon  regarding  the  height  to  which  the  water  arose.  It  must  have 
been  thought  very  extraordinary  that  Cairo  should  escape  that  flood  when 
at  so  many  other  places  it  had  caused  great  loss  and  damage. 

The  Flood  of  1849. — We  hear  nothing  more  of  overflows  or 
high  rivers  until  the  year  1849.  Regarding  the  effect  of  the  flood  of  that 
year  upon  Cairo,  we  give  here  an  extract  from  the  "Cairo  Delta,"  of 
March  20,  1849,  entitled  "High  Water": 

The  rivers  have  been  higher  during  the  past  week  at  this  point  than  they 
have  been  since  the  construction  of  our  levee.  Had  several  hundred  dollars  been 
expended  last  winter  in  repairing  a  break  in  the  Mississippi  levee,  repairing  the 
sewers  and  elevating  slightly  portions  of  the  Ohio  levee,  the  spectacle  would 
have  been  presented  of  this  being  the  only  point  in  this  region  of  country  on  the 
rivers,  not  more  or  less  inundated.  The  public  would  have  beheld  a  place,  which 
for  years  back  has  been  ridiculed  above  all  others,  through  unfair  prejudices,  as 
a  point  subject  to  frequent  inundations — standing  alone  and  singular,  almost  the 
only  dry  and  perfectly  protected  town  on  the  Ohio  or  Lower  Mississippi  rivers. 
But  through  the  negligence  or  inattention  of  the  company  owning  this  valuable 
property — or  probably  from  their  ignorance  of  the  real  want  of  such  expenditure 
— these  trifling  repairs  and  improvements  were  not  made,  and  Cairo,  like  almost 
every  other  place  above  and  below  on  the  rivers,  has  suffered  from  the  floods. 
The  flood  first  poured  through  the  old  break  in  the  Mississippi  levee  till  the 
waters  inside  the  levees  became  higher  than  the  Ohio  river,  and  finally  reached 
such  a  height  as  to  overflow  the  Ohio  levee  in  different  places.  Our  stores  and 
the  Delta  office  have  not  been  much  discommoded  by  the  flood. 

We  trust  and  hope  that  the  repairs  so  much  needed  will  no  longer  be^  post- 
poned.    We   are  satisfied  that  if  the  company  were  fully   aware  of  the  injury 


CAIRO'S  SITE,  AND  ABRASIONS  BY  RIVERS         75 

inflicted  upon  their  interests  here,  by  this  deferred  expenditure,  it  would  no  longer 
be  withheld.  The  expense  of  making  repairs  is  now  much  increased.  The  im- 
mense value  of  this  property,  and  the  high  prices  lots  would  undoubtedly  bring  if 
offered  for  sale,  might  warrant  any  expenditure  for  its  protection. 

We  hear  of  immense  destruction  of  propertj'  on  almost  every  western  river. 
The  coast  below  is  suffering  severely,  and  the  prospects  of  many  extensive  sugar 
planters  are  blasted  for  two  seasons  to  come.  Never  before  have  we  heard  of 
so  great  a  rise  in  all  our  rivers  taking  place  at  one  time.  The  noted  floods  of 
1844  cannot  compare  with  the  memorable  floods  of  1849. 

We  have  seldom  heard  anything  much  about  the  flood  of  1849;  but 
Editor  Ad.  H.  Sanders  seems  to  have  had  an  excellent  newspaper  and  to 
have  treated  everything  he  took  in  hand  with  sound  judgment.  But  at 
this  distance  of  time,  we  cannot  be  very  certain  about  any  such  matter 
or  thing  occurring  that  far  back.  The  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City 
Property  were  in  charge.  They  were  endeavoring  to  perfect  their 
land  titles,  and  were  doing  many  other  matters  and  things  of  a  pre- 
liminary nature.  Even  at  that  time,  they  had  strong  hopes  of  an  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  whose  terminus  would  be  here  at  Cairo,  and  which 
would  aid  them  in  putting  up  high  and  strong  levees;  and  it  may  be 
that  they  did  not  care  to  spend  considerable  sums  on  the  levees  as  they 
then  existed.  Still,  we  can  see  no  good  answer  to  what  the  editor  has 
said  regarding  what  might  have  easily  been  done  to  prevent  the  disaster. 

The  high  water  of  1858,  which  broke  through  the  Mississippi  levee 
on  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  June  12,  1858,  was  not  of  extraordinary 
height.  It  is  said  the  levee  had  been  badly  constructed,  at  least  in 
places;  that  those  persons  having  that  part  of  the  levee  in  their  im- 
mediate charge  left  stumps  and  logs  in  the  line  of  the  levee  and  had 
used  the  same  so  far  as  they  would  go  instead  of  well  selected  earth. 
Col.  Taylor  was  here  on  the  ground  and  this  was  his  statement  both  to 
the  public  generally  and  to  the  committee  of  shareholders  sent  here  to 
investigate  the  calamity.  Col.  Taylor  and  Mr,  H.  C.  Long  were  here 
all  the  time  during  the  construction  of  the  levees  by  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company.  The  contracts  of  June  11,  1851,  and  May  31, 
1855,  provided  that  the  engineers  of  each  party  should  co-operate  with 
each  other  in  carrying  forward  that  great  and  most  important  work  of 
levee  construction.  Who  used  the  logs  and  stumps  as  a  part  of  the 
levee  construction  and  whose  duty  it  was  to  know  what  was  being  done 
and  prevent  the  wrong,  need  not  at  this  distant  day  be  considered.  But 
if  there  was  more  than  a  grain  of  truth  in  what  Col.  Taylor  said  was 
the  cause  of  the  inundation  of  the  city,  it  should  have  aroused  the 
indignation  of  the  twenty-five  hundred  people  then  in  Cairo.  It  no 
doubt  led  to  a  better  supervision  of  the  work;  for  since  that  day  we 
have  never  heard  of  anything  like  it  occurring  again. 

The  Flood  of  1862. — On  the  20th  and  21st  days  of  July,  1863,  two 
large  public  meetings  of  the  citizens  of  Cairo  were  held  at  the  court 
house  to  consider  the  condition  of  the  levees.  Col.  John  S.  Hacker  was 
the  chairman  and  David  J.  Baker  the  secretary  of  the  meetings.  Among 
the  men   present  and   taking  a  part  were  Daniel   Hurd,   Robert   H. 


76 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Cunningham,  Dr.  E.  K.  Hall,  John  W.  Trover,  Peter  Neff,  John 
Howley,  Martin  Egan,  David  T.  Linegar,  and  Joseph  McKenzie. 
The  proceedings  of  the  meetings  were  published  in  the  Cairo  Daily 
News  of  July  27,  1863.  The  resolutions  adopted  were  long  and  wide 
in  scope  and  ladened  with  severe  complaints  against  the  Trustees.  Por- 
tions of  the  speeches  are  given.  I  quote  two  or  three  of  the  preambles 
and  a  sentence  or  t^vo  from  one  of  the  speeches  to  show  their  references 
to  the  floods  of  1858  and  1862. 

And  whereas,  this  said  temporary  levee  did,  in  the  year  1858,  give  way,  and 
the  city  was  thereby  submerged  to  an  average  depth  of  twelve  feet,  causing  a 
loss  of  life  and  the  destruction  of  property  to  the  amount  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars,  besides  a  vast  deterioration  in  the  value  of  real  estate,  and  a 
loss  of  confidence  in  the  practicability  of  building  a  city  at  this  unrivalled  com- 
mercial point; 

And  whereas,  the  rivers  did,  in  the  j-ear  1862,  rise  to  a  height  of  fourteen 
inches  above  the  present  levees,  and  the  city  property'  was  greatly  endangered, 
and  was  only  saved  by  the  industry  of  the  citizens  by  turning  out  and  erecting 
and  guarding  temporary  levees  on  the  top  of  the  present  Ohio  river  levee ; 

And  whereas,  the  levee  on  the  Ohio  river,  between  the  graded  part  thereof 
and  the  Illinois  Central  freight  depot,  has  caved  and  is  still  caving  to  an  alarm- 
ing extent,  and  to  the  great  detriment  of  propert}'  holders;  *  *  »  In  1862,  the 
levee  was  again  found  to  be  insufficient.  You  all  remember  the  consternation 
that  spread  among  the  inhabitants,  and  how  all  packed  up  and  fled  to  the  levee 
for  safet}%  You  also  remember  how  the  people  took  the  matter  of  defense  into 
their  own  hands,  and  worked  almost  day  and  night  at  the  false  levees  that 
finally  saved  us.  Had  it  not  been  for  these  efforts  we  would  have  been  over- 
flowed, and  worse  disasters  and  a  greater  destruction  of  property  would  have 
taken  place  than  in  1858. 

It  will  be  here  seen  that  as  far  back  as  that  early  day  the  bad  con- 
dition of  the  river  front  from  Eighth  Street  to  Fourteenth  Street  was 
being  complained  of  as  the  source  of  much  trouble  to  the  city.  Those 
contracts  of  June  11,  1851,  and  iMay  31,  1855,  between  the  Trustees 
and  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  provided  for  the  extension 
of  the  work  all  the  way  to  Fourteenth  Street;  but  it  was  never  done, 
and  after  many  years  the  situation  became  so  bad  as  to  necessitate  some 
remedy  or  other,  and  hence  the  present  stone  zvall  on  the  river  front. 

The  Flood  of  1867. — Mr.  Barron,  in  speaking  of  the  River  Gauge, 
in  Chapter  XI,  says  that  the  flood  of  March,  1867,  reached  a  stage  of 
51  feet,  measured  by  the  present  gauge.  This  information  may  have 
come  from  Col.  Taylor  or  from  some  one  else  who  had  preserved  a 
mark  of  the  same  on  some  building  or  structure  that  was  still  standing 
in  1871,  when  the  gauge  was  first  put  in  or  established. — It  was  indeed 
a  trjdng  time  to  the  people,  not  unlike  what  it  was  in  1862,  to  judge  by 
the  proceedings  of  those  public  meetings  just  referred  to. 

The  writer  had  not  been  here  long  and  this  was  the  first  high  water 
he  had  seen  at  Cairo.  But  for  another  reason  he  remembers  its 
occurrence.  He  had  charge  of  a  stock  of  drugs  for  sale,  and  had  ad- 
vertised the  same  somewhat  extensively,  with  the  result  that  James  S. 
and  Philander  W.  Barclay,  the  former  of  Chicago,  and  the  latter  from 


CAIRO'S  SITE,  AND  ABRASIONS  BY  RIVERS         77 

Bowling  Green,  Kentucky,  came  here  with  a  view  of  purchasing  the 
same  and  locating  in  Cairo.  They  purchased  the  stock  and  thus  began 
their  wholesale  and  retail  drug  business  which  they  conducted  here  for 
so  many  years.  Besides  recording  the  fact  that  this  sale  was  con- 
summated only  a  few  days  after  the  water  had  reached  its  highest  mark, 
I  desire  to  record  here  also  my  high  esteem  and  regard  for  those  two 
men.  The  population  of  Cairo  was  long  made  up  of  people  who  were 
born  elsewhere;  but  of  all  who  came  hither  and  made  their  homes  here, 
it  would  be  hard  to  mention  citizens  of  higher  character  and  standing 
than  these  two  Kentuckians.  Whether  it  was  due  to  their  state,  or 
their  town,  or  their  parents,  or  the  general  environment  in  which  they 
grew  up  or  were  trained,  they  bore  the  true  stamp  of  character,  to  bear 
which  ought  to  be  the  proudest  possession  of  any  man.  James  removed 
from  Cairo  to  Oak  Park  in  the  year  1892,  and  there,  ten  years  after- 
ward, he  and  his  wife  died  within  a  few  weeks  of  each  other.  The 
other  brother  remained  in  Cairo  until  the  time  of  his  death  July  6, 
1907.  He  had  long  been  a  prominent  Mason,  and  had,  some  years 
before  his  death,  reached  the  thirtj^-third  degree,  a  very  high  honor 
indeed  in  that  ancient  order.  A  biographical  sketch  of  him,  but  all  too 
meager,  is  found  in  Volume  I,  Templar  History,  Illinois,  1857-1881. 
There  were  six  of  the  Barclay  brothers,  a  picture  of  whom,  taken  in 
Louisville  in  1901,  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Phil  C.  Barclay. 
Of  those  six  brothers,  but  one,  Jo  C.  Barclay,  is  now  living.  Else- 
where I  have  spoken  of  the  five  Halliday  brothers,  of  whom  Major 
Edwin  only  is  now  living. 

With  reference  to  those  floods  in  the  early  eighties,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  first  of  the  three  was  the  only  one  that  caused  the  people  of 
Cairo  any  serious  apprehension,  and  that  arose  almost  chiefly  from  the 
fact  that  a  part  of  the  levee  on  the  westerly  side  of  the  city  was  of  recent 
construction,  and  was  made  to  take  the  place  of  a  portion  of  a  much 
older  levee  that  had  been  undermined  by  the  abrading  waters  of  the 
Mississippi.  This  new  levee  had  not  become  sufficiently  firm  and  solid 
as  to  wholly  prevent  the  sliding  down  of  the  inside  slopes  here  and  there. 
Even  this  would  not  have  occurred  had  not  the  builders  of  the  levee 
excavated  too  close  to  it,  and  the  consequence  was  that  water  accu- 
mulated in  these  excavations  and  so  softened  the  foot  of  the  levee  inside 
that  at  one  or  two  places  very  considerable  portions  of  the  inside  of  the 
levee  slid  down  into  the  excavations  below.  The  people  were  very  much 
alarmed  by  this.  The  water  in  the  Mississippi  was  very  high  and  of 
the  width  of  at  least  a  mile  or  more ;  and  the  heavy  winds  blowing 
northeastward  pressed  the  waters  with  great  force  against  the  levee. 
The  situation  looked  very  bad  indeed ;  but  when  the  flood  subsided  and 
the  waters  were  withdrawn  into  their  natural  boundaries  every  one  saw 
that  the  city  was  in  much  less  danger  than  the  people  had  supposed. 
That  new  levee  had  been  constructed  with  a  long  fine  slope  and  it  was 
seen  how  the  great  flood  of  waters  that  seemed  to  be  pressing  against 


78 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

the  levee  was  simply  resting  upon  the  long  slope.  But  after  all  is 
said  it  was  a  remarkable  time,  such  as  every  one  hoped  would  not  be 
seen  again.  Had  the  levee  been  as  weak  as  it  looked  it  might  have 
given  away  entirely;  but  the  faithful  and  untiring  efforts  of  the  citizens 
of  the  town  so  strengthened  and  fortified  the  weak  place  that  all  fear 
was  largely  removed.  The  strong  men  who  had  charge  of  that  work 
were  Capt.  Halliday  and  Mayor  Thistlewood,  or  Mayor  Thistlewood 
and  Capt.  Halliday.     I  know  not  which  of  them  I  should  name  first. 


Proposed  Canal  Between  Rivers,  1838 


CHAPTER  IX 

LOW      LOTS     AND     GROUNDS SEEPAGE THE      LINEGAR      BILL — STREET 

FILLING CITY    INDEBTEDNESS 

WHILE  our  levees  have  effectively  protected  the  city  from  over- 
flow for  fifty  years,  we  have  not  been  able  to  adopt  any  plan 
to  prevent  seepage.  The  underlying  strata  of  sand  at  and 
below  a  certain  depth  are  full  of  river  water,  whose  level  rises  and  falls 
with  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  waters  in  the  rivers.  The  rivers  unite  in 
these  subterranean  waters.  The  natural  earth  surface  of  the  city  pre- 
sents a  number  of  ridges,  generally  extending  across  the  city  in  a  south- 
east and  northwest  direction.  One  crosses  3d,  4th,  5th,  and  6th  Streets 
diagonally;  one,  two  or  three  blocks  further  north;  one,  still  further 
north  and  extending  on  northwestward  to  and  beyond  block  numbered 
four,  in  the  third  addition  to  the  city ;  and  one  from  the  vicinity  of  the 
stone  depot  on  the  Ohio  at  Fourteenth  Street  and  out  by  the  office 
building  of  the  Trustees  and  Mr.  J.  B.  Reed's  residence.  From  thence 
up  to  the  vicinity  of  Twenty-Eighth  Street,  the  natural  ground  is 
generally  very  low.  In  these  ridges  it  is  claimed  that  much  more  un- 
derlying sand  is  found  near  the  surface  than  in  the  much  lower  and 
level  ground,  and  that  these  ridges  are  the  chief  sources  of  the  seep 
water.  The  seepage  is  due  to  the  pressure  of  the  high  waters  in  the 
rivers  upon  the  water  in  the  underlying  sand,  and  the  latter  is  forced 
up  to  the  surface  through  the  porous  earth  or  sand  or  through  openings 
caused  by  the  decayed  roots  of  trees  or  otherwise.  If  the  underlying 
water  is  much  nearer  the  surface  in  the  ridges  than  in  the  low  grounds, 
then  indeed  more  water  may  seep  from  the  ridges  than  elsewhere;  but 
this  is  counteracted  by  the  increased  height  to  which  the  water  must 
be  forced  or  lifted.  It  is  well  remembered  that  in  the  days  of  driven 
wells,  iron  pipes  of  two  inches  diameter  w^ere  driven  into  the  earth  to 
the  depth  of  sixty  to  eighty  feet,  and  when  the  rivers  were  high  these 
pipes  would  send  out  constant  streams  of  water.  Hence  those  ordi- 
nances of  the  city  forbidding  excavations  in  the  earth  for  any  purpose  to 
any  considerable  depth. 

In  times  of  very  high  water  in  the  rivers,  the  city  is  much  like  an 
empty  basin  sunken  almost  to  its  brim.  The  minutest  opening  in  the 
bottom  of  the  vessel  will  permit  a  stream  of  water  to  shoot  up  almost 
to  the  level  of  the  brim.  To  prevent  this,  there  is  but  one  effective  or 
practical  remedy,  and  that  is  earth  filling.  It  is  the  process  of  stopping 
the  openings  in  the  surface  of  the  ground  within  the  city.  The  only 
other  method  ever  suggested  was  to  stop  or  keep  the  river  water  from 
getting  under  the  city.     That  is  undoubtedly  the  best  of  the  two  or 

79 


8o HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

the  best  of  all  methods  or  remedies;  but  as  a  working  method  or  theory, 
it  is  so  wholly  impracticable  as  to  be  worth  very  little.  It  assumes  that 
the  sources  of  the  underground  supply  of  water  from  the  rivers  are  few 
and  easily  reached  and  stopped  or  shut  off  by  what  is  called  sheet  piling. 
With  a  river  shore  line  of  seven  to  ten  miles  and  the  whole  site  of  the 
city  nothing  but  an  alluvial  plain  resting  on  sand,  very  much  like  the 
Illinois  Central  bridge  piers  which  rest  on  nothing  but  sand,  how  one 
could  expect  to  keep  the  river  water  from  finding  its  way  everywhere 
under  the  city  is  hard  to  understand.  The  driven  wells  in  all  parts  of 
the  city  north  and  south  exhibited  the  same  water  connection  with  the 
rivers  and  no  doubt  had  hundreds  of  places  of  supply.  They  simply 
tapped  the  river  water  right  under  them  and  conducted  it  to  the  sur- 
face. It  was  forced  to  the  surface  in  the  city  by  the  pressure  of  the 
higher  water  in  the  rivers.  The  water  was  simply  seeking  its  level. 
The  city  protected  itself  against  those  sources  of  water  from  the  river 
by  requiring  the  driven  well  pipes  to  be  plugged. 

In  the  selfsame  way,  the  method  to  stop  the  seepage  was  to  stop 
the  innumerable  openings  throughout  the  city,  reaching  down  to  the 
waters  beneath,  by  filling  the  low  grounds  with  earth  to  such  depth  as 
would  prevent  the  penetration  thereof  by  the  upper  pressure  of  the  water. 
Were  it  practicable  to  fill  with  earth  all  the  low  grounds  within  the 
city  to  a  depth  of  four  to  six  feet  or  to  the  grade  of  the  filled  streets  in 
the  lower  part  of  town,  we  would  be  free  forever  from  the  great  evil 
to  which  the  seepage  has  so  long  subjected  the  people  of  the  city.  No 
one  has  ever  seen  any  seepage,  not  the  smallest  quantity,  making  its 
appearance  on  any  of  the  filled  streets  in  the  city  or  where  the  natural 
surface  has  been  covered  with  earth  to  the  depth  of  four  or  five  feet. 
The  expense  of  this  process  has  been  the  only  thing  in  the  way  of  putting 
the  city  beyond  the  reach  of  this  great  annoyance.  The  low  site  of  the 
city  has  always  been  its  chief  drawback.  Earth  filling  has  been  the 
great  need,  almost  the  only  need.  Such  work  is  the  work  every  one 
should  want  done.  It  is  simply  making  the  site  of  the  city  just  what 
every  one  would  have  it  to  be, — higher  and  higher  than  the  rivers  left 
it  when  they  were  shut  out  by  the  levees. 

Earth  filling  is  the  need,  not  sand.  In  all  those  parts  of  the  city 
now  filled  or  being  filled  with  sand,  the  seepage  will  rise  just  as  high  as 
before  the  filling.  The  water  will  come  up  through  it  just  as  it  comes 
up  to  the  natural  surface  through  the  sandy  strata  extending  down  to 
the  river  waters.  Were  our  levees  sand  only  the  waters  would  not  be 
kept  out  of  the  city.  Earth  embankments  are  used  for  dams  the  world 
over,  because  the  water  will  not  penetrate  them.  So,  also,  a  few  feet 
in  depth  of  earth  filling  will  keep  down  the  upward  pressing  seepage 
water.  But  the  earth  here  is  a  poor  quality  even  for  levees.  It  has 
too  much  sand. 

The  Linegar  Bill. — Under  Mayor  Charles  O.  Patier's  administra- 
tion, an  attempt  was  made  to  test  the  legality  of  the  act  of  our  legis- 
lature passed   May   19,    1883.     It  was  called   the  "Linegar  Bill"  be- 


LOW  LOTS  AND  GROUNDS  8i 

cause  David  T.  Linegar,  the  county's  representative  in  the  lower  house 
of  the  legislature,  had  drawn  it.  Its  provisions  show  that  it  was  care- 
fully drawn.  It  provided  for  the  filling  of  the  low  lots  and  grounds 
of  the  city  and  charging  the  expense  thereof  upon  the  lots  and  grounds 
filled.  Doing  this,  however,  was  dependent  upon  its  being  shown  that 
the  rain  and  seepage  accumulated  on  such  lots  and  grounds  and  became 
stagnant  and  injurious  to  the  public  health  and  that  such  lots  and 
grounds  with  the  stagnant  waters  thereon  were  nuisances.  The  people, 
with  few  exceptions,  were  heartily  in  favor  of  the  bill  and  of  proceedings 
under  it  to  abate  the  evil,  which  was  one  to  be  gotten  rid  of,  if  it  were 
possible,  upon  any  reasonable  terms  or  conditions.  It  had  existed  ever 
since  the  town  and  its  levees  had  existed ;  and  strangers  and  visitors  were 
amazed  that  we  could  not  devise  some  means  to  rid  ourselves  of  these 
annual  invasions. 

Mayor  Patier  started  out  to  ascertain  whether  the  Linegar  Bill  was 
worth  anything  or  nothing.  An  ordinance  was  adopted  October  17, 
1892,  describing  certain  very  low  lots  and  providing  for  their  filling 
and  for  steps  to  be  taken  to  collect  therefrom  the  costs  of  the  work,  which 
were  made  a  lien  on  the  lots.  Lots  fourteen  and  fifteen,  in  Block 
fifty-one.  First  Addition,  were  selected  for  the  making  of  a  test  case. 
Among  the  few  persons  in  the  city  who  opposed  the  bill  or  the  doing 
of  anything  under  it,  were  Col.  Samuel  Staats  Taylor  and  Capt. 
William  P.  Halliday,  in  most  respects  the  two  most  prominent  men  in 
the  city.  Col.  Taylor's  reasons  for  opposing  it  no  doubt  arose  from  the 
fact  that  his  Trustees  owned  more  low  lots  and  grounds  than  almost 
all  the  other  people  in  the  city,  and  that  the  assessments  thereon  would 
become  a  heavy  burden,  very  difficult  to  be  borne  by  them.  Capt.  Halli- 
day could  have  had  no  such  reasons  for  his  opposition ;  for  he  owned  few 
such  lots.  He  wrote  or  had  written  a  lengthy  article  which  he  pub- 
lished in  the  Cairo  Daily  Telegram  of  June  20,  1891,  in  which  was 
set  forth  at  large  his  reasons  for  claiming  that  earth  filling  was  not 
our  remedy  for  seepage.  He  insisted  that  to  prevent  the  water  from 
the  rivers  entering  the  sand  ridges  in  the  city  we  should  resort  to  sheet 
piling,  cuts  of  which  were  given  in  the  Telegram.  He  took  the  strange 
ground  that  filling  the  low  grounds  with  earth  would  actually  increase 
the  quantity  of  seepage  and  would  not  keep  it  from  coming  in  but 
would  add  to  its  depths  in  other  parts  of  the  city  and  send  it  to  quarters 
where  it  had  not  formerly  gone.  In  a  word  or  two,  his  reasons  were, 
first  filling  the  low  places  with  earth  would  make  matters  worse,  and 
second,  the  Linegar  Bill  was  unconstitutional. 

Patier,  however,  was  pushing  the  slow  proceedings  along  to  test  the 
validity  of  the  bill,  when  he  was  succeeded  in  office  by  one  of  our  citizens 
who  cared  less  for  the  undertaking  than  he  did  ;  and  so  the  proceedings 
were  not  carried  further;  and  to  put  a  final  quietus  to  the  matter,  that 
is,  to  the  danger  incident  to  filling  the  low  grounds  with  earth,  Capt. 
Halliday  applied  to  the  source  from  which  the  law  emanated  and  had  it 
repealed,  April  24,  1899.  We  do  not  know  what  the  considerations 
were  which  moved   the  legislature  to   this  repeal;  but  whatever  they 


82  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

were,  their  act  was  in  the  nature  of  a  calamity  to  the  city.  The  mem- 
bers who  were  solicited  to  procure  the  repeal  should  have  said  that  the 
act  seemed  to  them  a  good  one  and  that  if  it  was  unconstitutional  it  could 
be  shown  before  the  city  could  proceed  more  than  a  few  steps  in  their 
undertaking. 

Thus  came  to  an  end  one  of  the  most  important  proceedings  ever 
undertaken  for  the  good  of  the  city  and  its  people.  The  principles  of 
the  bill  had  been  sustained  time  and  time  again  in  a  number  of  cases 
in  different  states,  where  large  lots  and  tracts  of  land  in  and  adjoining 
cities  had  been  filled  in  precisely  the  same  way  and  to  remove  the  same 
evils.  JViUon  v.  Board  of  Trustees,  133  111.  443;  Dinghy  v.  City  of 
Boston,  100  Mass.  544;  Grace  v.  Board  of  Health,  135  Mass.  490; 
City  Council  of  Charleston  v.  Werner,  38  S.  C.  448;  same  case  17  S. 
E.  R.  33;  24  S.  E.  R.  207;  Sweet  vs.  Rechel,  159  U.  S.  380.  Other 
cases  might  be  cited,  but  those  given  will  enable  anyone  to  trace  the 
authorities.  It  is  a  little  remarkable  that  when  this  matter  was  before 
the  people  men  were  to  be  found  in  the  city  who  claimed  that  the  seep 
water  was  a  good  thing  to  have  in  the  city  and  that  it  was  not  a 
nuisance  to  be  abated.  Few  persons,  however,  went  so  far  as  to  object 
to  its  being  pumped  out  of  the  city  and  into  the  river.  We  have  never 
had  anything  in  the  city  which  developed  so  many  queer,  not  to  say 
absurd,  theories  as  did  this  seepage  question  and  the  remedies  for  the 
same.  The  low  grounds  were  objectionable  in  every  view  of  the  case, 
and  to  get  them  higher  and  above  seepage  and  accumulated  rain  water 
was  a  need  too  plain  for  argument.  The  low  site  of  the  city  has  been 
the  only  thing  which  has  prevented  it  from  being  four  or  five  times  as 
large  as  it  is. 

It  may  be  said,  it  serves  no  good  purpose  now  to  dwell  at  such 
length  upon  such  a  past  matter  as  this;  but  the  city  still  stands  in  the 
greatest  need  of  earth  filling;  and  it  is  to  be  earnestly  hoped  that  it  is 
not  too  late  to  obtain,  in  some  large  measure,  the  object  the  bill  was 
intended  to  secure.  As  elsewhere  remarked,  next  to  protecting  the  site 
of  the  city  from  the  abrasion  of  the  rivers,  comes  the  matter  of  raising 
the  site  by  earth  filling. 

But  if  earth  cannot  be  gotten  or  gotten  onl}'^  at  too  high  a  price, 
sand  should,  of  course,  be  used.  We  have  seen  that  it  can  be  pumped 
into  the  city  at  rates  much  less  than  those  required  for  earth,  and  hence 
the  inducement  to  use  it.  It  will  not  keep  the  seepage  out  or  down,  but 
it  will  keep  it  out  of  view,  and  it  will  so  raise  or  lift  the  earth  surface 
that  for  many  purposes  it  will  be  as  useful  as  the  higher  grounds  of  the 
city. 

Street  Filling. — Whatever  may  have  been  thought  by  the  people 
generally  as  to  the  need  of  filling  with  earth  and  raising  the  site  of  the 
town,  all  were  agreed  as  to  the  importance  of  filling  the  streets  and 
bringing  them  to  a  proper  grade  or  level.  In  their  natural  condition 
they  were  and  some  of  them  are  almost  impassable  some  portions  of  the 
year.  Very  little  of  this  kind  of  public  work  had  been  done  prior  to  the 
year   1863,  when  the  city  authorities  took  the  matter  in  hand,   and 


LOW  LOTS  AND  GROUNDS 83 

July  15,  1863,  contracted  with  Capt.  William  P.  Halliday  to  fill  with 
earth  Commercial  Avenue  to  20th  Street,  Washington  Avenue  and 
Poplar  Street  to  i8th  Street  and  all  the  cross  streets  from  1st  to  i8th 
Streets,  both  inclusive.  The  contract  provided  that  the  filling  should 
be  made  to  the  present  grade  of  those  avenues  and  streets  and  at  the  cost 
of  thirt}'-five  cents  per  cubic  j^ard.  The  contractor  gave  a  bond  in  the 
sum  of  $25,000.00  for  the  faithful  performance  of  the  work. 

It  seems,  however,  that  the  contractor,  after  filling  part  of  Com- 
mercial Avenue,  found  that  he  had  taken  the  work  at  too  low  a  price,  and 
differences  arising  between  him  and  the  city,  the  contract,  on  the  23d 
day  of  June,  1864,  was  rescinded  and  the  bondsmen  released  by  the  city 
council  of  the  cit>^  The  Trustees  in  their  report  to  the  shareholders, 
September  29,  1864,  speak  of  this  matter  as  follows: 

"So,  also,  from  inability  of  the  contractor  to  do  the  work  at  the 
contract  price,  the  contract  for  filling  the  streets  at  35  cents  the  cubic 
yard  has  been  annulled,  and  a  new  contract  made  by  the  city  council 
for  doing  the  same  work  at  60  cents  the  cubic  yard.  This  contract  for 
filling  the  streets  only  embraces  streets  up  as  far  as  Twentieth  Street." 

A  short  time  after  this,  namely,  on  the  loth  day  of  November,  1864, 
the  council  let  the  same  work  to  George  Odiorne  at  60  cents  per  cubic 
yard,  but  Odiorne  does  not  seem  to  have  given  the  required  bond  of 
$25,000.00,  and  the  arrangement  failed.  Afterwards,  and  on  the  25th 
day  of  Februar}',  1865,  the  council  let  the  work  to  Fox,  Howard  &  Com- 
pany, of  Chicago,  but  at  the  price  of  74  cents  a  yard.  That  was  forty- 
five  years  ago  and  we  do  not  know  what  the  actual  facts  and  circum- 
stances of  the  situation  were  which  made  it  necessary  or  important  to  let 
go  the  one  contract  and  bond  and  take  up  the  others.  Something  over 
eighteen  months  elapsed  from  the  first  to  the  last  letting.  These  some- 
what peculiar  proceedings  seem  to  have  been  entirely  fair  and  proper, 
judging  by  the  well  known  names  of  the  persons  in  charge  of  the  matter. 
David  J.  Baker,  whom  every  one  esteemed  very  highly,  was  the  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  public  works. 

Fox,  Howard  &  Company  proceeded  with  the  work  and  in  its  prose- 
cution used  a  steam  shovel  for  excavating  the  earth  and  filling  their  long 
line  of  tram  cars  to  haul  the  same  into  the  city  and  along  the  different 
streets  to  be  filled.  The  work  was  pushed  forward  rapidly,  and  com- 
pleted late  in  the  j-ear  1866,  or  early  in  the  year  1867.  The  assessments 
for  paying  for  the  work  were  levied  upon  the  abutting  lots  according  to 
the  frontage  principle  and  as  provided  for  in  the  laws  then  in  force  re- 
garding such  matters,  but  this  method  of  assessment  having  been  held 
unconstitutional  under  our  then  existing  constitution  of  1848,  in  the  case 
of  Chicago  vs.  Larnedj  34  111.  203,  the  collections  of  the  assessments 
had  to  be  abandoned,  with  perhaps  almost  one  half  of  the  assessments 
unpaid. 

Upon  it  becoming  known  in  the  city  that  these  assessments  were  not 
legally  made  or  levied,  all  payments  of  the  same  immediately  ceased ; 
and  the  question  at  once  arose  as  to  the  liability  of  the  city  to  refund  to 


84 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

the  owners  of  property  the  assessments  they  had  paid.  Two  cases  were 
begun  against  the  city  to  test  the  question,  the  one  by  Capt.  Walter  Falls 
and  the  other  by  Patrick  Mockler.  The  Falls  suit  only  was  tried. 
Judge  David  J.  Baker,  our  circuit  judge  at  that  time,  heard  the  case 
without  a  jury,  and  decided  that  the  city  was  not  liable  to  refund  the 
payments,  chiefly  on  the  grounds  that  the  payments  were  voluntary  and 
there  had  been  no  failure  of  consideration,  for  the  filling  had  been  done 
and  the  benefits  thereof  conferred  upon  the  property  upon  which  the 
assessments  had  been  made  and  had  been  paid.  Capt.  Falls  took  his 
case  on  to  the  supreme  court,  where  the  judgment  of  the  circuit  court 
was  affirmed.     See  Falls  vs.  City  of  Cairo,  58  111.  403. 

The  payment  of  assessments  having  ceased,  the  city  was  without 
means  to  pay  the  contractors,  and  they  therefore  brought  suit  against 
the  city  for  the  balance  due  them,  and  on  the  29th  day  of  April,  1868, 
obtained  judgment  for  the  sum  of  $110,390.09. 

The  city  taking  no  steps  to  pay  the  judgment,  they  applied  directly 
to  the  supreme  court  for  a  writ  of  mandamus  to  compel  the  city  council 
to  make  a  special  levy  of  taxes  to  pay  the  same.  The  court  awarded  the 
writ,  but  the  matter  was  adjusted,  under  Mayor  John  H.  Oberly's  ad- 
ministration, without  further  proceedings,  by  the  issuance  to  Fox,  How- 
ard &  Company  of  eight  per  cent  twenty  year  city  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  $123,000,00.  The  interest  on  these  bonds  was  paid  for  a  few  years 
only.  The  city  in  1876  stopped  payment  of  the  interest  on  these  bonds 
and  on  all  of  its  other  bonds,  the  larger  portions  of  which  were  railroad 
bonds.  Extensive  litigation  then  ensued  and  continued  for  many  years, 
resulting  finally  in  compromises  and  settlements,  generally  by  exchanging 
new  city  bonds  for  the  old  ones  on  terms  agreed  upon  from  time  to  time 
by  the  holders  and  the  city  authorities.  The  city  had  undertaken  to 
carry  too  heavy  a  load.  It  and  the  county  had  issued  to  the  Cairo  & 
Vincennes  Railroad  Company  and  the  Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad 
Company  (narrow  gauge)  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $385,000.00.  The 
six  and  eight  per  cent  interest  had  accumulated  rapidly;  and  when  the 
city  and  county  ceased  payment  in  1878,  their  bonded  indebtedness 
amounted  to  the  large  sum  of  $765,373.30. 

This  bonded  indebtedness  trouble  of  the  city  hung  upon  and  clouded 
it  for  many  years  beginning  with  1876.  The  county  united  with  the 
city  in  attempts  to  obtain  relief  from  burdens  concededly  too  heavy  to  be 
borne;  and  the  writer  takes  occasion  here  to  remark  that  the  services  of 
the  Hon.  William  B.  Gilbert  in  his  representation  of  the  city  and  county 
in  the  litigation  with  bond-holders  and  in  the  various  methods  of  com- 
promises and  settlements  were  of  the  greatest  value.  With  the  greatest 
tenacity  of  purpose  and  the  most  unremitting  and  persistent  efforts  on 
his  part,  he  brought  the  city  and  county  out  of  one  of  the  most 
embarrassing  financial  situations  in  which  such  municipalities  could  pos- 
sibly be  placed. 


OROmA^CE 


CAIRO  CITY  AND  CANAL  COMPANY, 


PABSSD  THE         S'  £'    '     y^^ 


'i*    P?tAy,      /f^d 


THE  CAIRO  CITV  AND  CAxNAL  COMPANY  under  thej 
miihority  and  power  confi-Trcd  upon  iliem  by  an  act  passed  and 
approved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  Febru- 
ary 27th,  1811,  to  incorporate  the  CITY  OF  CAIRO  glinting] 
and  giving  to  said  company  the  exoreiso  of  such  powers,  rights  and  i 
privileges,  as  aro  contained  m  an  Act  to  incorporate  the  city  of 
Quincy,  passed  and  approved  February  3d,  1840,— Do  hereby  de- 
clare the  following,  and  ordain  iht-same  as  no  ordinance,  under  (he 
charier  granted  said  CAIRO  CITV  AND  CANAL  COMPANY 
as  follows : 

Bo  it  ordained  and  enacted  by  ihe  President  and  Directors  of 
iho  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company.  Thai  the  following  ordinance 
for  tlic  City  o(  Cairo,  according  to  tho  provisions  of  article  5ih, 
section  18,  under  tho  charter  of  said  City,  "To  enact  and  regulate 
private  wharfs  and  fi.i  iho  price  of  wharfage  ihcront,"  ihat  from 
and  after  the  first  day  of  iT"'****  f^^h  there  shall  bo  charf»cd  a 
wharfage  upon  all  Boiiis  which  shall  remain  longer  than  twenty. four 
hours  ai  Cairo  City,  without  a  permit  nr  licenso  from  ihc  said  Cai- 
ro  City  and  Canal  Compnn),  granting  them  tho  pruihgrio  remain 

andall  Roats  wliicli  shall  he  found  remaining  upon  tho  Cairo  Ciiy 
River  Landing  or  its  prcimscs,  lonjtor  than  said  iweniy-four  hours 
without  such  permit  or  liccn--fi  from  said  Cairo  Company,  shall  be 
considered  as  trespasses  and  bo  subject  to  pay  a  fine  of  Five  Dol- 
lars for  each  and  everyday  they  continuo  to  vtolaie  iheir ordnance, 
which  fine  or  penally  shall  bo  collected  or  recovered  hcforo  any 
Mogi&trato  in  tho  cuuniy  of  Alexander,  and  funhor,  thai  ihe  raie- 
of  wharfage  to  bu  charged  upon  all  said  Boacbf  and  iho  permits  o 


licences  to  bo  granted  or  not  granted,  shall  be  charged  at  the  fol- 
lowing rates  afler  ihe  expiraiioniof  said  twenty-four  hours  viz  :  ns 
follows — 

For  all  Flat,  Keel  or  other  Boats,  engaged,  used  or  occupied  in 
the  business  of  vending,  selling  or  retcUing  merchandize,  Dry 
Goods  or  Hardware,  or  othei"  descriptioi  of  Goods,  the  sum  of 
Five  Dollai-s  per  each  day. 

For  all  Flat,  Keel  or  other  boats  engaged,  used  or  occupied  in 
,  tho  business  of  vending,  selhng  or  retailing  any  articles  of  Agricnl- 
;  taral  Produce  of  any  kind  whatever,  the  sum  of  Three  Dollars  per 
\  each  day. 

For  all  Flat,  KocI  or  other  boats  engi^ed,  used  or  occupied  in 
the  bus'ne  s  of  .selling,  vpndlng  or  retailiig  any  spirituous  liquors 
by  the  dram,  glass,  quan  or  gallon  m  any  quantity  less  than  a  bar- 
rel, the  sum  of  Five  Dollars  per  each  day.  _ 

l-'or  all  wluu'f,  Sioro  or  othor  boats  engaged,  used  or  occupied  as 
a  Wharf  Boat  for  Steam  Boats  lo  land  at  or  for  storage,  receiving 
or  forwarding  merchandise,  Dry  Goods,  Produce  or  for  vending, 
'Clling,  retailing  or  wholesaling  Groceries,  Liquors,  Merchandise, 
Dry  Goods  or  Produce,  ihc  sum  of  Twenty-Five  Dollars  per  each 
day. 

Tho  above  ordinance  shall  bo  in  force  and  apply  lo  that  part  of 
ihc  Lcvcc  or  Laniling,  cororocncing  at  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Rivers  and  extending  up  the  said  Levee  or  Landing  on 
iho  Ohio  River  'TTf  •  '>4u'Li^ 


nr 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  WHARF  AND  WHARFAGE — RIPARIAN  RIGHTS 

HE  paved  wharf  as  it  now  exists  extends  from  the  south  line  of 
■  4th  Street  to  the  north  line  of  8th  Street,  a  distance  of  ten 
hundred  and  eighty  ( 1080)  feet.  The  paved  face  of  it  extends 
nearly  to  low-water  mark  on  an  angle  of  about  eleven  degrees  to 
the  plane  or  level  of  Ohio  Street  adjoining;  and  the  distance  from  the 
street  line  to  the  paving  at  or  near  low-water  mark  is  about  two  hundred 
and  ten  (210)  feet.  There  are,  therefore,  about  24,000  square  yards 
in  its  surface  or  about  five  acres  or  as  much  as  two  of  our  largest  city 
blocks. 

Looking  at  the  wharf  now  and  at  the  river  bank  above  and  below  it, 
we  can  easily  see  what  the  river  landing  was  prior  to  the  construction 
of  the  wharf,  which  was  begun  in  the  year  1857.  Prior  to  that  time  and 
for  thirt}'  years,  the  flatboats,  keelboats,  and  other  like  water-craft,  and 
the  steamboats,  wharf  boats,  barges,  &c.,  had  to  land  at  and  be  tied 
up  to  the  bank,  and  there  were,  therefore,  the  most  primitive  and 
temporary  means  for  loading  and  unloading  and  caring  for  passengers 
and  freights. 

Hence,  arose  at  a  very  early  day  in  Cairo's  history,  the  question  of  the 
ownership  of  the  river  banks  or  shores,  and  of  the  right  of  the  owners 
to  collect  wharfage  or  dues  for  the  privilege  of  landing  and  tying  up 
to  the  shore  for  a  greater  or  shorter  time.  The  collection  of  wharfage 
seems  to  have  begun  as  far  back  as  1843,  possibly  earlier.  By  the  act 
of  February  17,  1841,  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  had  been 
vested  with  all  the  powers  of  the  City  of  Quincy;  and  on  the  23d  day 
of  May,  1843,  the  Company  passed  an  ordinance  providing  for  the  col- 
lection of  such  dues,  a  photograph  copy  of  which,  signed  by  D.  B.  Hol- 
brook,  is  given  on  another  page.  At  this  time  the  town  had  fully  entered 
upon  its  decline.  No  more  funds  were  to  come  from  England,  nor  were 
they  expected  to  come  from  American  sources;  and  it  may  be  that  this 
ordinance  had  its  origin  in  the  hope  that  some  small  amounts  might 
be  obtained  from  water-craft,  which  would  enable  the  landed  proprietors 
to  hold  out  a  while  longer,  or  until  substantial  aid  came  from  other 
quarters,  or  until  they  could  sell  out  the  whole  enterprise.  So  far  as 
we  know,  the  ordinance  probably  had  little  other  effect  than  to  prejudice 
still  further  the  growing  river  interests  against  the  town. 

Very  soon  after  Col.  Taylor's  arrival  here  in  1851,  the  matter  of 
collecting  wharfage  dues  was  again  taken  up ;  and  the  Trustees,  whom 
he  represented,  were  proceeding  to  make  these  dues  an  important  source 
of  their  needed   revenues.     Many  of  the  leading  people  of  the  town 

85 


86 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

believed  the  Ohio  River  shore  or  wharf,  such  as  it  was,  belonged  to 
the  public  and  that  the  Trustees  had  no  legal  right  to  claim  the  same 
or  to  charge  or  to  collect  wharfage  dues  thereat.  They  seem  to  have 
claimed,  first,  that  the  title  of  the  Trustees  did  not  extend  further  than 
high-water  mark,  and,  second,  that  the  Trustees  and  their  predecessors 
had  dedicated  the  wharf  and  landing  to  the  public  by  doing  this  and 
that,  and  especially  by  the  making  of  maps  and  plats  showing  the  river 
front  and  other  places  in  the  city  to  be  public  grounds  and  property. 

The  city,  or  that  which  we  have  called  a  cit}^  all  the  time,  became 
incorporated  as  a  town  in  March,  1855  ;  and  on  the  27th  day  of  March 
and  the  2d  day  of  April,  1855,  the  trustees  of  the  town  passed  two 
ordinances,  the  one  imposing  a  fine  of  $50.00  a  day  for  maintaining  at 
the  landing  any  wharfboat,  flatboat,  storeboat,  floating  dock,  flat,  barge, 
keelboat,  or  other  water-craft,  without  license  or  permission  from  the 
city,  and  the  other,  a  fine  of  $75.00  for  making  sales  on  such  boats  or 
keeping  hotels  thereon.  On  the  i6th  day  of  April,  1855,  Solomon 
Littlefield  and  Samuel  Wilson,  the  latter  of  whom  is  well  remembered 
by  scores  of  our  citizens,  filed  their  bill  in  chancery  in  the  circuit  court 
of  the  county  at  Thebes  against  the  said  town  trustees,  who  were 
Samuel  Staats  Ta^dor,  Brj^an  Shannessy,  Peter  Stapleton,  Louis  W. 
Young,  Moses  B.  Harrell,  and  Robert  Baird,  constable,  to  enjoin  them 
from  enforcing  the  said  ordinances.  The  injunction  was  issued,  and  the 
case  came  up  for  a  hearing  on  demurrer  by  the  trustees,  before  Judge 
William  H.  Parrish,  the  circuit  judge  of  our  county  at  that  time,  and 
said  to  have  been  a  very  able  man  and  judge.  William  A.  Denning, 
before  that  time  one  of  the  judges  of  our  supreme  court,  was  the  attorney 
for  Littlefield  and  Wilson,  and  John  Dougherty  and  Cyrus  G.  Simons, 
the  attorneys  for  the  town  and  its  trustees.  Among  the  papers  in  this 
chancer)'  suit  are  printed  copies  of  those  two  ordinances  and  of  two 
others  dated  March  31st  and  April  4,  1855.  The  four  ordinances  are 
signed  or  attested  by  Edward  Willett  as  clerk.  Judge  Parrish  seems 
to  have  disposed  of  the  suit  in  rather  short  order,  and  held  that  Little- 
field and  Wilson  had  not  stated  a  case  entitling  them  to  any  relief,  and 
dismissed  their  bill. 

The  town  trustees  elected  March  10,  1856,  seem  to  have  differed 
widely  from  those  of  the  preceding  year.  They  were  Thomas  Wilson, 
Cullen  D.  Finch,  McGuire  Phillips,  Samuel  S.  Taylor  and  Charles 
Thrupp.  The  judges  of  the  election  were  Bryan  Shannessy,  Robert  H. 
Cunningham,  and  Edward  Willett,  and  the  clerks  Henry  H.  Candee 
and  John  Q.  Harmon.  The  election  was  by  ballot  and  not  by  viva  voce 
votes,  and  hence  there  was  probably  more  freedom  in  voting  than  at  the 
election  the  j^ear  before.  The  issue  seems  to  have  been  the  same  as 
that  made  in  the  Littlefield  and  Wilson  suit,  and  the  election  must  have 
gone  in  favor  of  what  they  represented,  although  they  had  lost  in  the 
circuit  court.  This  new  board  of  trustees  had  a  strange  habit,  as  Col. 
Taylor  says,  of  frequently  holding  meetings  without  notifying  him. 
On  the  24th  day  of  May,  1856,  they  passed  an  ordinance  aimed  at  Col. 
Taylor's  Trustees,  just  as  the  former  board  had  passed  the  tu^o  ordi- 


THE  WHARF  AND  WHARFAGE  87 

nances  of  March  and  April,  1855,  which  seemed  aimed  at  certain  citizens 
who  had  wharfboats  at  the  landing.  Under  this  ordinance,  just  men- 
tioned, George  D.  Gordon,  whom  a  few  of  our  citizens  well  remember, 
was  appointed  wharfmaster  and  was  to  collect  the  wharfage  dues. 
Under  the  ordinance  and  the  efforts  made  to  enforce  it,  a  confused  state 
of  things  arose.  Gordon  was  able  to  collect  only  about  $400.00  of 
wharfage  during  his  term  of  service,  during  which  time  as  much  as 
$8000.00  in  dues  had  accrued,  almost  all  of  which  was  lost  both  to  the 
city  and  the  Trustees.  The  Trustees,  to  defeat  the  attempt  of  the 
town  trustees  to  enforce  this  ordinance  of  May  24,  1856,  obtained  an 
injunction  against  them  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  at  Spring- 
field. 

This  suit  was  no  doubt  still  pending  when  the  first  election  came  on 
March  7,  1857,  under  the  city  charter  of  February  11,  1857,  and 
which  resulted  in  the  election  of  Col.  Tajdor  as  mayor  and  the  following 
named  aldermen:  Peter  Stapleton,  Peter  Neff,  Patrick  Burke,  Rodger 
Finn,  John  Howley,  Henry  Whitcamp,  Christopher  M.  Osterloh,  Mar- 
tin Egan,  Timothy  N.  Gaffney,  C.  A.  Whaley,  William  Standing  and 
Cornelius  Manley.  Quite  a  majority  of  these  aldermen  seem  to  have 
been  favorable  to  Col.  Tajdor  and  the  policy  of  the  Trustees,  and  they 
lost  no  time  in  wholly  undoing  what  the  last  Board  of  Town  Trustees 
had  done  regarding  wharfage,  for  on  March  nth,  four  days  after  their 
election,  they  repealed  all  ordinances  relating  to  wharfage,  and  thus 
ousted  the  wharfmaster,  George  D.  Gordon.  At  this  election  Mr. 
Henry  H.  Candee  was  chosen  cit}^  treasurer  and  John  Q.  Harmon 
clerk.  March  9th,  they  were  directed  to  demand  of  the  town  trustees 
all  books  and  records  of  every  kind  and  all  moneys  and  funds,  belonging 
to  the  town  government.  Whatever  became  of  the  books  and  records 
of  the  former  town  government  I  do  not  know.  I  have  seen  no  record 
indicating  anything  concerning  them. 

Whatever,  also,  became  of  the  suit  in  the  Federal  court  to  enjoin 
the  town  trustees  of  1856,  we  do  not  know,  but  we  find  that  within 
a  few  weeks  after  the  voters  of  the  city  had  substituted  David  J.  Baker 
as  mayoT  in  place  of  Col.  Taylor,  another  ordinance  was  passed  by  the 
council  to  take  charge  of  the  wharf  or  of  the  collection  of  wharfage. 
Following  the  passage  of  this  ordinance,  Fredolin  Bross  brought  a  suit 
against  the  Trustees  to  obtain  an  enforcement  of  the  contracts  of  June 
II,  185 1,  and  of  May  31,  1855,  between  the  Trustees  and  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company.  (We  have  referred  elsewhere  to  this  suit 
of  Judge  Bross.)  In  the  report  of  the  Trustees  to  the  shareholders, 
September  29,  1864,  we  find  these  references  to  this  Bross  suit  and  to 
the  ordinance  last  mentioned: 

In  May  last,  a  bill  was  filed  in  Chancery,  by  F.  Bross,  who  purchased  a  lot, 
in  1856,  from  the  Trustees,  praying  the  court  to  compel  the  performance,  by  the 
Trustees,  of  the  contract  entered  into  by  them  with  the  lot  purchasers,  as  he 
claims,  to  build  the  levees  provided  for  by  the  first  agreement  between  the  late 
Trustees  and  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company.  Our  counsel  are  of  the 
opinion,  that  there  is   no  good   ground   for  any  such  claim  or  suit.     The  case 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


will  be  removed,  at  the  proper  time,  from  the  local  court  in  which  it  was  in- 
stituted, into  the  United  States  Court,  at  Springfield. 

In  April  last,  the  City  Council  of  the  City  of  Cairo  passed  an  ordinance 
providing  for  the  appointment  of  a  Wharf  Master,  and  the  collection  of  wharf- 
age at  our  levee  wharf.  The  Trustees  immediately  restrained  the  operation  of 
this  ordinance  by  an  injunction,  issued  out  of  the  United  States  Court.  The 
injunction  was  granted  about  three  weeks  before  a  regular  term  of  the  court, 
at  which  it  would  have  been  proper  for  the  City  to  ask  for  a  dissolution  of  the 
injunction.  But  at  the  time  of  granting  it,  the  counsel  for  the  City  asked  for 
time  beyond  the  term  of  the  court  to  answer  the  bill  upon  which  the  injunction 
was  founded,  and  then,  July  ist,  asked  for  further  time,  until  October  ist,  to 
make  this  answer.  The  only  foundation  that  the  Trustees  are  aware  of  for  the 
claim  advanced  by  the  City  for  the  wharf,  is  set  forth  in  a  resolution  adopted 
at  a  citizens'  meeting,  in  July,  1863,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy,  viz.: 
That  as  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  are  public  commercial  highways,  and 
the  landing  at  this  city  a  public  landing,  that  can  only  be  controlled  and  regu- 
lated by  the  public,  or  those  authorized  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State;  there- 
fore, the  authority  claimed  and  exercised  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Prop- 
erty, in  the  collection  of  wharfage,  etc.,  is  a  gross  violation  of  the  rights  of  the 
City,  a  fraud  upon  the  city  treasury  and  an  usurpation  of  power. 

Our  counsel  have  not  a  doubt  of  the  abilit>^  of  the  Trustees  to  maintain  their 
right  to  the  wharf,  and  to  defeat  the  City  in  its  pretended  claim. 

In  this  Springfield  suit,  brought  b}^  the  Trustees  in  April,  1864,  there 
was  filed  as  an  exhibit  to  Col.  Taylor's  deposition,  a  large  map  or  plat 
of  the  City  of  Cairo,  made  by  William  Strickland,  architect  and 
engineer,  and  Richard  C.  Taylor,  engineer  and  geologist,  probably  in 
1838,  to  which  exhibit  was  attached  the  following  affidavit,  subscribed 
and  sworn  to  before  John  W.  Ash,  Notar\^  Public  at  Alton,  February 
22,  1866. 

"My  name  is  Miles  A.  Gilbert.  My  age  is  56  and  my  present 
residence  is  in  Saint  Mary,  state  of  Missouri.  I  moved  to  Cairo,  Illinois, 
in  the  year  1843,  and  took  possession  and  charge  of  all  the  property  there 
belonging  to  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  acting  as  their  agent 
up  to  June,  1846,  the  time  the  property'  was  transferred  to  the  Trustees, 
Thomas  S.  Taylor  and  Charles  Davis.  From  that  period,  I  acted  as 
agent  for  said  Trustees  up  to  April  18,  185 1,  the  time  S.  Staats  Taylor, 
Esqr.,  came  and  took  charge  of  the  trust.  I  resided  at  Cairo  from  1843 
to  the  latter  part  of  1846;  from  1846  till  1851  was  at  Cairo  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  time.  During  the  aforesaid  periods,  as  agent, 
I  exercised  control  and  authority  over  the  high  river  bank  and  strips 
of  land  lying  between  Levee  Street  in  the  Cit\'  of  Cairo  and  the  Ohio 
River,  and  during  the  whole  time  made  and  asserted  continuous  public 
and  notorious  claim  to  said  ground.  As  agent  had  notices  stuck  up  in 
several  of  the  most  public  places  in  Cairo,  requiring  trading,  boarding, 
family  and  flat  boats  and  other  similar  water  craft  landing  at  or  moored 
to  the  shore  to  pay  wharfage.  In  some  cases  I  collected  wharfage  and 
in  others  remitted  it  when  business  was  dull  and  they  could  not  afford 
to  pay.  As  agent  I  pointed  out  places  for  trading  boats,  flat  boats 
and  other  water  craft  to  land  at  and  use  for  the  time  being.  Also 
pointed  out  a  certain  location  to  be  used  especially  for  steamboats  to 
land  at,  and  often,  when  trading  boats  and  flat  boats  would  land  at 


THE  WHARF  AND  WHARFAGE  89 

the  place,  assigned  for  steamboats  I  required  such  trading  and  flat 
boats  to  remove  to  some  other  place,  which  I  pointed  out,  they  usually 
doing  so  without  trouble.  I  frequently  employed  men  to  clear  off  logs, 
drift  wood  and  other  obstructions  lodged  on  the  levee,  and  generally 
during  the  entire  period  spoken  of  exercised  exclusive  control  and  owner- 
ship over  the  entire  river  bank  and  levee  at  Cairo,  from  the  confluence 
of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  for  about  three  miles  up  the  Ohio. 

"1  was  one  of  the  incorporators  and  also  a  director  of  the  Cairo  City 
and  Canal  Company  from  its  inception,  during  the  entire  period  of  its 
existence  and  was  familiar  with  its  operations.  I  was  and  am  familiar 
with  the  map  made  by  Mr.  William  Strickland,  the  engineer  of  that 
company.  He  never  made  but  one  plan  and  no  plat.  The  plan  accom- 
panied a  report  made  by  him  to  the  company  in  1838  and  was  made  to 
illustrate  his  recommendations  as  to  the  best  method  of  building  a  city 
and  improving  and  developing  the  property  at  Cairo.  This  report  was 
printed  and  the  map  was  engraved  on  different  scales  and  some  attached 
to  the  printed  reports.  I  hereto  annex  one  of  the  plans  and  reports 
marked  Exhibit  Y ;  also  one  of  the  plans  on  a  large  scale  marked  Exhibit 
X.  This  plan  was  never  adopted  by  the  company  as  a  plat  of  the  city ; 
the  city  was  never  laid  out  according  to  it;  no  survey  was  made  by 
authority  of  the  company  under  it,  and  no  lots  sold  under  it.  It  was  a 
sketch  of  a  proposed  plan  for  a  city,  to  be  adopted  or  not  as  the  company 
might  thereafter  determine. 

Miles  A.  Gilbert." 

This  suit  also  seems  to  have  determined  nothing,  for  Col.  Taylor, 
with  the  aid  of  certain  influential  friends  here,  prevailed  upon  the  z\Xv 
council  to  withdraw  its  defense  to  the  suit.  This  action  of  the  council 
only  put  off  the  day  of  the  decision  of  the  question ;  for  it  came  up  again 
in  the  quo  warranto  suit  brought  in  the  name  of  The  People  on  the 
relation  of  John  W.  Trover  against  Marmaduke  S.  Ensminger,  wharf- 
master,  in  1868.  This  suit  finally  settled  the  question  of  the  right 
of  the  Trustees,  as  riparian  owners,  to  the  wharf  and  to  collect  wharfage, 
after  the  matter  had  been  pending  in  one  form  or  another  since  1855. 
This  ruling  of  our  supreme  court  in  the  Ensminger  case  was,  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  Barney  vs.  Keokuk,  94  U.  S.  384, 
held  applicable  only  in  those  States  where  it  had  become  a  rule  of 
property'  or  where  the  restrictions  of  the  riparian  owner  to  high-water 
mark  would  be  an  interference  with  vested  rights. 

With  the  exception  of  certain  river  frontage  or  lands  fronting  on 
the  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  rivers  which  have  been  sold,  the  Trustees 
must  be  now  regarded  as  the  owners  of  all  the  river  frontage  on  the 
rivers.  Their  titles  extend  on  the  west,  to  the  middle  thread  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  on  the  east,  to  low-water  mark  on  the  Ohio.  In  the 
old  city  charter  of  February  11,  1857,  the  legislature  extended  the  city's 
boundaries  to  the  middle  of  the  main  channels  of  both  rivers,  but  this 
it  could  not  lawfully  do  as  to  the  Ohio.  See  "The  Ohio  River  as  a 
Boundary"  in  a  subsequent  part  of  the  book. 


CHAPTER  XI 

GEOLOGICAL  FORMATIONS — THE  SIGNAL  STATION THE  RIVER  GAUGE — 

TEMPERATURES  AND  RAIN-FALLS 

THE  geological  formations  of  that  part  of  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi extending  from  a  point  or  line  a  few  miles  north  of  Cairo 
to  the  Gulf,  and  of  the  width  of  a  few  miles  at  Cairo  and  of 
many  miles  at  the  Gulf,  is  well  known.  This  long  strip  of  land  or 
country  is  a  kind  of  widening  trough,  into  which  the  flowing  waters 
have  carried  an  ocean  of  sand  and  silt  for  ages.  It  is  said  that  an  arm 
or  bay  of  the  Gulf,  in  very  early  times,  extended  to  the  chain  of  hills  a 
few  miles  north  of  us  and  constituting  a  part  of  the  present  Ozark  range 
of  mountains.  It  is  further  said  that  the  Ohio  River  once  ran  some  miles 
north  of  its  present  course  from  the  hills  in  Pope  County,  and  following 
somewhat  the  course  of  the  little  French  River,  the  Cache,  united 
with  the  Mississippi  some  distance  above  its  present  place  of  union  with 
that  river;  and  also,  that  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland  rivers  united 
at  Paducah,  and  followed  the  present  course  of  the  Ohio  from  there  to 
Cairo. 

May  it  not  be  reasonably  well  supposed  that  the  tendency  of  uniting 
rivers  is  to  extend  the  point  of  junction  further  and  further  in  the  direc- 
tion of  their  resultant  course?  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  well  established 
that  this  part  of  the  great  valley  for  hundreds  of  feet  in  depth  consists 
for  the  most  part  of  alternating  strata  of  sand  and  gravel  of  varying 
degrees  of  fineness,  that  is,  of  very  fine  to  very  coarse  sand  and  gravel. 
Many  of  us  remember  the  first  driven  wells  we  had  in  Cairo  and  of  the 
one  or  two  very  deep  wells  sunken  by  Mr.  Jacob  Klein,  one  of  which 
was  of  the  depth  of  300  feet  or  more.  Mr.  Gerould,  of  the  gas  company, 
had  charge  of  this  work  for  Mr.  Klein.  It  was  indeed  interesting  to 
see  the  character  of  the  pure  and  almost  white  sand  brought  from  the 
depths  below,  varying  in  little  else  besides  its  degree  of  fineness.  For 
a  few  feet  more  or  less  it  was  very  fine  and  then  very  coarse. 

We  cannot  devote  much  space  to  this  matter,  but  beg  the  privilege 
of  quoting  a  few  pages  from  the  report  of  Mr.  L.  C.  Glenn,  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  entitled  "Under-ground  Waters  of 
Tennessee  and  Kentucky  West  of  Tennessee  River,  and  of  an  Adjacent 
Area  in  Illinois."  It  is  Water-Supply  and  Irrigation  paper  No.  164, 
Government  Printing  Office,  Washington,  1906.  The  theory  of  the 
course  of  the  Ohio  River  ages  ago  is  regarded  as  probably  but  not  cer- 
tainly true,  as  therein  given. 

Embayment  Area  in  Illinois. — "In  Illinois,  the  Gulf  Embayment 
Area  includes  the  south-eastern  part  of  Alexander  County,  all  of  Pulaski 

90 


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U.S. GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY 


WATER-SUPPLY    PAPER   N0.16-*     PL.l 


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Allirv-iumand 

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Lafayette         1 

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GKOUXilC  MAH  OF  THK  GULF  EMRAYMENT  IN  •rENNESSEK,IiENTliai\',AND  ILLINOIS 


GEOLOGICAL  FORMATIONS  91 

County  south  of  the  chain  of  swamps  in  its  northern  portion,  and  a  very 
narrow  strip  in  Pope  County  along  its  southern  boundary. 

"This  area  in  Illinois  may  be  divided  into  two  portions  that  differ 
from  each  other  in  their  surface  topography  and  elevation.  One  por- 
tion comprises  the  low,  flat  alluvial  plains  of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio 
rivers.     The  other  portion  is  a  rolling  to  hilly  upland. 

"Flood  plain. — The  alluvial  plains  extend  as  a  broad  belt  from  Santa 
Fe  down  the  Mississippi  to  Cairo  and  thence  as  a  narrow  belt  up  the 
Ohio  to  a  poin^  a  few  miles  above  Mound  City,  where  the  upland 
bluffs  on  the  Illinois  side  close  in  on  the  river  and  continue  with  but 
slight  interruption  to  a  point  a  short  distance  north  of  Metropolis. 
There  the  flood  plain  again  begins  and  widens  as  it  extends  up  the  river 
until  it  attains  a  width  of  several  miles  in  the  bend  at  Paducah.  This 
flood  plain  extends  up  the  Ohio  beyond  the  limits  of  the  gulf  embayment 
region. 

"The  elevation  of  this  low  plain  is  about  320  feet  at  Cairo  and 
about  340  or  350  feet  along  the  edge  bordering  the  upland.  In  places 
the  alluvial  plain  and  the  upland  meet  along  a  sharply  defined  line,  the 
upland  surface  rising  abruptly  as  a  steep-sided  bluff.  In  other  places, 
the  two  types  of  surface  meet  and  merge  with  gentler  slopes. 

"Cache  River  Valley. — The  flood  plain  of  Cache  River  below  Ullin 
is  a  part  of  this  alluvial  plain  and  is  covered  by  backwater  during  floods. 
Above  Ullin,  the  valley  of  the  Cache  is  a  continuation  of  the  same  plain, 
though  it  is  bordered  on  the  south  by  a  rolling  upland  that  rises  a 
hundred  feet  or  more  above  it. 

"The  Cache  River  valley  is  an  abandoned  valley  of  Ohio  River,  and  to 
this  fact  it  owes  its  width,  flat  surface,  and  low  grade.  The  Ohio  form- 
erly turned  westward  three  or  four  miles  below  Golconda  and  followed 
the  valley  of  Big  Bay  Creek  for  some  distance,  then  continued  westward 
to  the  present  Cache  River  through  the  depression  now  occupied  by  the 
chain  of  swamps  in  northern  Massac  County.  The  Cumberland  and 
Tennessee  rivers  then  united  at  Paducah  and  followed  the  present 
course  of  the  Ohio  from  there  to  Cairo. 

"Uplands. — The  upland  region  includes  all  of  Pulaski  County  lying 
southeast  of  the  Cache  River  valley  and  north  of  the  Mississippi  and 
Ohio  flood  plain,  which  extends,  as  has  been  stated,  a  short  distance 
north  of  Mound  City.  It  also  includes  all  of  Massac  County  south 
of  the  chain  of  swamps  which  crosses  its  northern  part,  except  the  strip 
of  Ohio  flood  plain  in  its  southwestern  part,  and  a  small  area  of  Pope 
County  adjacent  to  the  Massac  Countj^  line.  The  upland  has  a  rolling 
to  hilly  surface  whose  average  elevation  is  375  to  450  feet  above  sea 
level." 

As  to  other  geological  features  of  this  locality,  the  reader  is  referred 
to  the  tables  or  logs  taken  from  the  above  described  government  pub- 
lication. They  relate  chiefly  to  the  artesian  wells  in  the  citj^  and 
in  the  Cairo  Drainage  District.  I  am  indebted  to  Major  Edwin  W. 
Halliday  for  the  pamphlet  containing  the  above  information  and  table. 


92 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

For  information  about  almost  everything  of  a  practical  nature,  most  of 
us  have  been  accustomed  to  go  to  Major  Halliday. 

The  Signal  Station. — ^The  two  following  papers  were  very  kindly 
furnished  me  by  Mr.  William  E.  Barron,  the  local  forecaster  of  the 
Weather  Bureau  of  Cairo. 

"The  Weather  Bureau  is  a  branch  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of 
Agriculture,  established  July  i,  1891,  to  take  charge  of  the  meteorolog- 
ical work  of  the  Government  which  had  grown  up  since  1870,  under 
the  Signal  Service  of  the  War  Department. 

"The  first  reports  of  this  service  were  gathered  Nov.  i,  1870,  from 
twenty-four  stations.  The  station  at  Cairo,  Illinois,  was  established 
June  I,  1 87 1.  At  that  time  there  were  only  forty-nine  stations;  now 
(1910)  there  are  over  two  hundred  regular  observing  stations,  besides 
a  large  number  of  special  and  co-operating  stations  of  various  kinds. 
Sergeant  Henry  Fenton  was  the  first  officer  in  charge  at  Cairo  and  the 
office  was  located  in  the  old  City  National  Bank  building  on  the  Ohio 
levee.  It  has  been  in  the  present  location  in  the  Custom  House  since 
July    I,    1877- 

"Cairo  is  situated  in  latitude  37°  00.8'  N.,  longitude  89°  11.6'  W. 
Local  mean  time  is  three  minues  faster  than  Central  Standard  or  90th 
meridian  time. 

"The  instruments  in  use  at  the  Cairo  station  are  as  follows: 
Maximum  and  minimum  thermometers,  dry-bulb  and  wet-bulb  ther- 
mometers, psychrometer,  Richards  thermograph,  mercurial  barometers, 
Richards  barograph,  anemometers,  anemoscope  or  wand  vane,  self-re- 
cording rain  gauge,  snow  gauge,  electric  sunshine  recorder,  and  meteoro- 
graph or  triple  register." 

Accompanying  this  paper  was  a  very  interesting  table  giving  the 
highest  and  lowest  temperatures  and  the  dates  thereof,  the  highest  and 
lowest  water  in  the  rivers  and  the  dates  thereof,  and  the  rainfalls,  since 
the  establishment  of  the  Station  in  187 1,  up  to  the  present  year,  a  period 
of  thirt}^-nine  years.  It  will  be  found  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  book. 
I  am  sure  it  will  be  found  very  useful  to  almost  every  person  of  this 
section  of  the  country. 

The  River  Gauge.  We  have  to  thank  Mr.  Barron,  also,  for  the 
following  paper  concerning  the  River  Gauge : 

"The  river  gauge  is  located  on  the  Ohio  levee  at  the  foot  of  Fourth 
Street.  It  was  established  in  1871  by  Col.  William  E.  Merrill,  Corps 
of  Engineers,  U.  S.  A.  The  high  water  of  March  20,  21,  and  22, 
1867,  was  equivalent  to  51.O  feet  on  this  gauge.  The  portion  of  the 
gauge  above  the  9-foot  mark  was  reconstructed  by  the  Weather  Bureau 
in  1903,  and  from  9  to  50  feet  consists  of  steel  I  beams  laid  in  a  bed 
of  concrete  nearly  flush  with  surface  of  the  levee,  making  an  angle  of 
about  11°  15'  with  the  horizontal.  The  zero  of  the  gnugc  is  270.9 
feet  above  mean  tide  level  at  Biloxi,  Mississippi.  The  gauge  is  gradu- 
ated in  feet  and  tenths  of  elevation  from  — 2  to  55  feet." 


GEOLOGICAL  FORMATIONS 


93 


ARTESIAN    WELLS 

In  and  near  Cairo  several  deep  wells  have  been  sunk.  The  loca- 
tion and  logs  of  several  of  them  are  as  follows: 

The  first  deep  boring  is  at  the  power  station  of  the  Cairo  Electric 
Light  and  Power  Company,  on  lot  29,  city  block  26,  and  was  drilled 
in  1896-97  to  a  depth  of  1,040  feet.  The  diameter  is  10  inches  at  the 
top  and  decreases  to  6^2  inches  at  the  bottom.    The  log  is  as  follows: 


LOG   OF   WELL   OF   CAIRO    ELECTRIC    LIGHT   AND    POWER   CO.,    CAIRO^    ILL. 


Thick- 
ness 


Depth 


Soil 

Sandy  blue  clay   

Sand  and  gravel,  similar  to  river  deposit 

Sand  with  kaolin  partings 

Kaolin 


Sand  with  a  few  thin  layers  of  kaolin  and  traces  of  shale  and 

lignite   

Shale  or  marl,  slate  colored 

Very  soft  sand    

Partings  of  shale  and  lignite   

Chert  of  "Elco"  gravel 

Chert  pebbles 

Hard,  reddish  calcareous  sandstone;  no  water  in  it 


Feet 

4-5 

55 

"5 

130 

134 

374 
498 
S18 

523 

700 

70s 

1,040 


From  the  sand  at  498-518  feet  water  rose  to  the  surface  and  flowed  about  a 
gallon  a  minute.  The  following  sanitary  analysis  of  this  water  was  made  at  the 
University  of  Illinois  by  Prof.  A.  W.  Palmer; 

ANALYSIS    OF    WATER    OBTAINED    BETWEEN    498    AND    518    FROM    WELL 
OF  CAIRO   ELECTRIC  LIGHT  AND  POWER  COMPANY^  CAIRO^  ILL. 

Parts  per  million 

Nitrogen  as  free  ammonia  0.35 

Nitrogen  as  albuminoid  ammonia   .023 

Nitrogen  as  nitrites   .009 

Nitrogen  as  nitrates .204 

Chlorine   as  chlorides    83 

Oxygen  consumed    3.4 

Total  solids  by  evaporation  365 

Fixed  residue 348 

Volatile  matter  (loss  on  ignition)    17.1 

Comments  of  analyst:  "Too  much  time — ten  days — had  elapsed  between  col- 
lection of  analysis  to  be  sure  of  sanitary  condition,  though  it  is  probably  satis- 
factory. The  mineral  matter  consists  mainly  of  carbonate  of  lime,  with  some 
sodium  chloride  and  very  little  sulphate.  Not  excessively  hard.  Not  likely  to 
form  a  hard  scale  in  boilers." 

Professor  Palmer  also  analyzed  the  water  from  the  7os-foot  level,  with  the 
following  results: 


94 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


ANALYSIS    OF    WATER    FROM    DEPTH    OF    705    FEET    IN    WELL    OF    CAIRO 

ELECTRIC    LIGHT  AND   POWER  COMPANY^   CAIRO^   ILL. 

(Parts  per  million) 


Nitrogen  as  free  ammonia   

Nitrogen  as  albuminoid  ammonia 

Nitrogen  as  nitrites   

Nitrogen  as  nitrates   

Chlorine  as  chlorides   

Oxygen  consumed  

Total  solids  by  evaporation 

Fixed  residue 

Volatile  matter  (loss  on  ignition) 
Hardness 


0.36 

0.36 

.016 

.02 

None 

None 

.06 

.06 

no 

no 

1.4 

1.2 

356 

353 

346 

339 

10 

14 

"5 

Comments  of  analyst:  "Of  exceptional  purity  and  perfectly  safe  and  whole- 
some for  drinking.  Hardness  is  quite  moderate."  The  two  samples  were  taken 
at  the  same  time. 

The  Halliday  Hotel  well,  on  lot  24,  hotel  addition  to  city  of  Cairo,  has 
practically  the  same  log  as  the  one  given  above.  The  boring  went  to  824  feet, 
but  there  was  no  increase  of  water  below  the  700-foot  level.  It  was  drilled  in 
1897;  diameter  at  the  top  8  inches,  at  the  bottom  4^/2  inches;  temperature  62°  F. ; 
head  12  feet  above  the  surface. 

A  well  on  the  W.  P.  Halliday  estate,  near  the  mouth  of  Cache  River,  in 
about  the  center  of  the  NE.  14  sec.  2,  T.  17  S.,  R.  i  W.,  in  Alexander  County, 
had  the  following  log: 

LOG  OF  HALLIDAY  WELL  IN  THE  NE.  %•  SEC.  2.  T.  1 7  S.^  R.  I  W.^  ILLINOIS 


Thick- 

Depth 

ness 

Feet 

Feet 

40 

40 

104 

144 

n2 

256 

54 

310 

72 

382 

10 

392 

34 

426 

42 

468 

62 

730 

7 

737 

69 

806 

Soil  and  blue  clay  (buckshot)   

Sand  and  gravel;  drift  with  kaolin  partings. 

Brown  shale  or  marl 

Gray  sand 

Chert,  fractured — "flint  rock" 

Dark  brown  sand 

Chert  fractured — "flint  rock" 

White  sand 

Flint  rock  with  slight  fractures 

Flint  pebbles 

Flint  Rock 


From  the  last  7  feet  water  with  a  head  of  12  feet  flows  at  an  estimated  rate 
of  half  a  million  gallons  a  day.  There  was  no  increase  in  water  below  735  feet. 
Drilled  in  1898;  temperature  62°  F. 

Another  well  at  E.  W.  Halliday's  residence  on  lot  16,  block  70,  between  Ninth 
and  Tenth  and  Walnut  and  Cedar  Streets,  in  Cairo,  had  the  following  log: 


GEOLOGICAL  FORMATIONS 


95 


LOG   OF   WELL   AT  RESIDENCE   OF    E.    W.    HALLIDAY,    LOT    1 6,    BLOCK    70, 

CAIRO,  ILL. 


Thick- 
ness 

Depth 

Feet 

Feet 

50 

50 

325 

375 

130 

505 

24 

529 

220 

749 

4 

753 

5« 

8ii 

Soil  and  friable  blue  clay  (loess  or  terrace) 

White  sand  with  thin  partings  of  kaolin  (Lagrange) 

Gray  shale  or  marl  (Porters  Creek) 

Fine,  closely  compacted  white  sand  (Ripley) 

Flint  rock,  but  slight  fractures  (Paleozoic) 

Flint  pebbles 

Hard  calcareous  sandstone 


From  the  753-foot  level  there  is  a  flow  of  60  gallons  per  minute,  with  a  head 
of  12  feet  above  the  surface.  The  temperature  is  62°  F.  Four  hundred  gallons 
per  minute  may  be  pumped. 

There  are  other  similar  wells  at  several  manufacturing  establishments  in 
Cairo  and  the  records  run  much  the  same.  The  temperature  seems  to  be  62°  F. 
in  each  case,  and  the  static  head  is  the  same.  The  material  described  as  flint 
is  a  ver}^  light  colored  chert  of  Mississippi  age  that  is  exposed  in  a  150  or  200 
foot  face  at  a  quarry  between  Tamms  and  Elco,  from  which  it  is  extensively 
shipped  for  railroad  ballast  and  road  material.  In  this  locality  it  is  highly 
fractured,  so  that  it  is  virtually  of  macadam  size  without  crushing.  As  struck 
in  wells  it  is  in  some  places  massive  and  solid,  while  in  others  it  is  seamed  and 
broken,  and  is  then  called  gravel  by  the  drillers,  though  in  neither  wells  nor  in 
the  Elco  gravel  quarry  is  the  material  waterworn  or  rounded,  being  simply  me- 
chanically disintegrated  chert  still  in  place. 

We  know  very  little  concerning  the  site  of  the  city,  save  that  it  is 
of  very  recent  origin.  The  point  between  the  rivers  may  have  had  a 
very  slow  southward  movement  or  been  now  and  then  cut  off  and  moved 
back  northward.  Certain  it  is,  that  what  was  the  point  sixt}^  years 
ago  was  the  point  one  hundred  and  three  years  ago  when  the  first 
government  survey  was  made.  From  the  most  southern  east  and  west 
line  of  that  survey,  within  a  few  hundred  feet  of  the  point,  to  the  foot 
of  the  yellow  clay  and  gravel  hills  at  Mounds,  we  have  the  distance  of 
seven  or  eight  miles.  These  hills,  which  extend  north  of  Villa  Ridge 
and  over  to  the  Ohio  River,  are  old  compared  to  the  alluvial  plain 
south  of  Mounds.  They  have,  no  doubt,  the  same  origin  as  that  of  the 
Wickliffe  and  Columbus  hills  in  the  so-called  Gulf  embayment  area. 
At  no  distant  time  in  the  past  the  two  rivers  may  have  united  just 
south  of  Mounds.  Their  present  general  direction  at  Mound  City 
and  at  or  near  Beech  Ridge,  where  the  distance  between  them  is  about 
six  miles,  would  indicate  that  they  may  have  once  united  just  below 
Mounds  or  some  six  or  seven  miles  north  of  us.  The  site  of  the  city 
may  have  existed  a  number  of  centuries,  save  that  it  has  been  narrowed 
and  widened  from  time  to  time  and  elevated  somewhat  by  the  rivers. 
The  grounds  south  and  west  of  the  Mississippi  levee  afford  us  a  good 
illustration  of  made  land,  as  it  is  sometimes  called.  None  of  it  is  one 
hundred  j-ears  old.  It  would  require  a  hundred  j-ears  yet  to  make  it 
what  the  site  of  the  city  was  in  1818,  so  far  as  the  timber  growth 
is  concerned. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE    ILLINOIS    CENTRAL    RAILROAD 

IT  may  be  said  we  need  nothing  more  concerning  the  early  history 
of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  so  much  having  been  already 
written.  We  think,  however,  that  what  we  shall  say  herein  about 
the  road  and  especially  about  its  origin,  will  be  found  neither  superfluous 
nor  inappropriate. 

A  full  and  complete  history  of  the  road  might  be  written  which 
would  contain  little  about  the  city  of  Cairo ;  but  a  history  of  Cairo  with 
little  therein  about  the  road  would  be  unworthy  of  its  title.  As  I 
have  before  remarked  and  shown,  the  present  Cairo  owes  its  origin  to  the 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  and  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company.  To  make  the  statement  a  little  more  complete  and  accurate, 
it  may  be  said  it  owes  its  origin  to  Darius  B.  Holbrook  and  his  Cairo 
City  and  Canal  Company  of  March  4,  1837.  But  this  leads  us  still  a 
little  further  back  and  requires  the  statement  to  be  made  that  Cairo  and 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  in  their  respective  origins,  were  largely 
Kaskaskia  enterprises.  Nor  must  I  fail  to  notice  in  this  chapter  the 
part  taken  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  in  the  work  of 
procuring  government  aid  to  build  the  railroad. 

This  close  connection  of  the  starting  of  the  city  of  Cairo  with  the 
origin  or  starting  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  I  will  now  proceed  to 
set  forth  as  briefly  as  a  clear  understanding  of  the  matter  will  allow. 
I  cannot  do  this,  however,  without  frequent  references  to  Judge  Breese 
and  Senator  Douglas,  whose  correspondence,  in  December,  1850,  and 
January,  1851,  furnishes  quite  an  outline  history  of  legislation  con- 
cerning this  railroad.  So  much  has  been  said  about  the  congressional 
land  grant  of  September  20,  1850,  and  so  little  about  the  many  years 
of  hard  and  persistent  work  which  led  up  to  the  grant,  that  one  would 
suppose  the  road  had  its  origin  in  that  enactment;  and  hence  a  very 
imperfect  view  of  the  matter  has  been  quite  too  generally  taken  and 
credit  given  and  credit  withheld  contrary  to  and  against  the  actual  facts 
of  the  history  of  the  enterprise. 

It  now  and  then  occurs  that  in  the  hour  of  exultant  success  they  are 
forgotten  who  had  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day  and  made 
possible  the  success  credited  to  others.  Lapse  of  time  may  separate  the 
first  movers  in  the  enterprise  from  those  last  in  it  and  present  at  the 
finish ;  but  when  the  clouds  and  dust  of  noisy  triumph  have  lifted  and 
cleared  away,  the  final  award  will  go  without  dissent  to  those  in  whose 
minds  the  great  undertaking  first  took  shape  and  by  whose  hands  it  was 
first  started  towards  an  actual  existence. 

96 


,6^^^ 


THE  ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD  97 

That  a  magnificient  donation  of  lands  was  obtained  instead  of  pre- 
emption rights  merely,  that  it  was  to  the  state  and  not  to  a  private 
corporation,  were  matters  of  importance;  and  that  the  work  and  man- 
agement bestowed  upon  their  procurement  deserve  high  marks  of  recog- 
nition no  one  would  deny ;  but  in  looking  around  to  find  to  whom  credit 
and  honor  should  be  given  for  the  completed  enterprise,  it  was  very  un- 
just that  the  award  should  extend  no  further  than  the  finishing  workmen. 
The  man  who  plans  and  builds  up  to  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone, 
if  no  further,  should  not  be  forgotten  when  the  capstone  is  hoisted  into 
its  place  and  the  celebration  begins.  Even  if  some  changes  were  made 
in  his  plans  as  the  work  progressed,  and  even  though  he  may  have  died 
and  been  years  in  his  grave,  yet  the  injunction  still  obtains  that  tribute 
and  honor  must  go  to  whom  tribute  and  honor  are  due.  But  I  must 
not  delay  showing  Judge  Breese's  connection  with  the  starting  of  Cairo 
and  with  the  beginning  and  growth  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
enterprise. 

Judge  Sidney  Breese  was  the  originator  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road. Others  completed  the  great  undertaking;  but  he  had  carried  it 
on  so  long  and  faithfully  that  the  work  remaining  to  be  done  was  neither 
very  long  nor  very  difficult.  He  had  gone  from  New  York  to  Kas- 
kaskia  a  j^ear  or  two  prior  to  the  admission  of  the  state  into  the  Union, 
and  there  began  the  reading  of  law  in  the  office  of  Elias  Kent  Kane. 
He  must  have  been  familiar  with  all  of  the  proceedings  of  the  legislature 
then  taking  place,  and  especially  with  the  preparation  of  the  act  of 
January  9,  1818,  incorporating  the  city  and  bank  of  Cairo,  and  also 
with  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  which  there  drafted  our  state 
constitution  of  18 18  and  in  the  making  of  which  Kane  took  so  promi- 
nent a  part.  We  read  how  he  and  his  ox  team  conveyed  the  state 
records  from  Kaskaskia  to  Vandalia  in  1821,  and  of  the  numerous  offices 
he  filled  in  early  life  and  of  his  steady  advancement  in  the  esteem  and 
favor  of  the  people.  He  was  no  doubt  well  acquainted  with  John  G. 
Comegys  and  his  Kaskaskia  associates  and  with  what  they  did  and 
were  unable  to  do  with  their  Cairo  enterprise  of  1818,  at  which  early 
day  there  was  no  railroad  anj^vhere  in  the  United  States  nor  in  Eng- 
land, if  anywhere  else. 

Passing  over  a  few  years  and  many  events,  and  premising  that  Breese 
kept  well  and  fully  abreast  of  the  times  with  their  then  very  promising 
outlook,  we  come  to  the  year  1835,  in  the  months  of  August  and 
September  of  which  he  and  Miles  A.  Gilbert  and  Thomas  Swanwick, 
of  Kaskaskia,  entered  the  south  halves  of  sections  fourteen  and  fifteen, 
the  east  half  of  section  twenty-two,  all  of  sections  twenty-three  and 
twenty-four,  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  twenty-six  and  the  west 
half  of  the  northwest  quarter  of  section  twenty-five,  of  township  seven- 
teen south,  range  one  west  of  the  third  principal  meridian.  A  month  or 
two  later  Anthony  Olney  and  Alexander  M.  Jenkins  entered  other  lands 
in  the  same  and  other  sections,  and  David  J.  Baker  still  others  in  the 
same  and  other  sections.     The  whole  of  the  entries  amounted  to  about 


98 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

twenty-three  hundred  acres.  Quite  a  large  part  of  these  lands  are  now 
embraced  in  the  present  city  of  Cairo. 

I  must  not  proceed  further  before  joining  the  name  of  Darius  B. 
Holbrook  with  the  names  of  the  men  already  mentioned, — Breese,  Baker, 
Jenkins,  Gilbert,  Olney  and  Swanwick.  I  will  let  Judge  Breese  tell  us 
how  Holbrook  came  to  be  one  of  the  Cairo  men  of  whom  I  am  now 
speaking.  In  his  letter  of  January  25,  185 1,  to  Senator  Douglas,  we 
find  the  following: 

"At  the  called  session  of  the  legislature  which  followed  it  in  '35-'36, 
I  found  Mr.  Holbrook  at  Vandalia,  then  a  stranger  to  me,  endeavor- 
ing to  procure  charters  for  manufacturing  purposes,  as  I  understood. 
Believing  him  to  be  the  man  of  great  intelligence  and  expanded  views, 
I  unfolded  my  plans  to  him  and  seizing  upon  the  project,  which  had 
been  started  in  18 18  to  build  a  city  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  which 
the  projectors.  Gov.  Bond,  and  others,  had  then  denominated  'Cairo,' 
he  fell  into  my  views,  and  being  a  man  of  great  energj^,  he  proposed  the 
formation  of  a  company  to  construct  the  road  and  build  the  city." 

These  entries  of  lands  may  be  said  to  be  the  beginning  of  the  second 
attempt  to  start  a  city  here;  and  we  shall  now  see  how  closely  the 
starting  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  followed  the  entry  of  the  lands; 
for  in  the  state  senate,  at  Vandalia,  on  the  29th  day  of  December,  1835, 
Col.  John  S.  Hacker,  representing  Alexander  and  Union  Counties, 
introduced  a  bill  to  incorporate  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company. 
The  persons  named  therein  as  incorporators  were  Alexander  M.  Jenkins, 
David  J.  Baker,  John  S.  Hacker,  Henry  Eddy,  Wilson  Able,  Richard 
G.  Murphy,  Pierre  Menard,  Miles  A.  Gilbert,  Francis  Swanwick,  John 
Reynolds,  Harr\^  Wilton,  Sidney  Breese,  John  M.  Krum,  D.  B.  Hol- 
brook, Simon  M.  Hubbard,  James  Hughes,  Albert  G.  Snyder,  and  forty 
other  persons,  all  of  whom  with  a  few  exceptions  lived  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  state  as  it  was  then  known.  Some  amendments  were  made  to 
the  bill,  but  it  soon  passed  both  houses  and  was  approved  January  16, 
1836,  a  day  on  which  eight  other  railroad  companies  were  incorporated 
by  the  legislature. 

No  time  seems  to  have  been  lost  by  the  men  who  made  these  land 
entries  and  procured  this  incorporation  of  the  railroad  company;  for  on 
the  13th  day  of  the  February  following,  the  board  of  directors  held  a 
meeting  at  Alton,  and  no  doubt  having  in  mind  that  canal  donation  act 
of  March  2,  1827,  and  its  allowance  by  the  act  of  March  2,  1833, 
for  a  railroad  in  lieu  of  a  canal,  proceeded  at  once  to  draw  up  a  memorial 
to  congress  for  aid  in  their  railroad  undertaking,  and  deputed  the 
president  of  the  company,  Alexander  M.  Jenkins,  and  the  treasurer  of 
the  board,  D.  B.  Holbrook,  to  proceed  at  once  to  Washington  to  present 
their  application  for  government  aid.  At  that  meeting  of  the  directors, 
Breese  was  no  doubt  present ;  nor  can  there  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  part 
he  took  in  the  preparation  of  the  memorial.  Miles  A.  Gilbert  was  the 
secretary  of  the  company  and  of  that  meeting  and  his  name  is  affixed  to 
the  papers  accompanying  the  memorial,  one  of  which  is  his  certificate  of 


THE  ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD  99 

the  appointment  of  Jenkins  and  Holbrook  to  present  the  memorial  to 
congress.  It  is  an  able  paper  and  would  probably  fill  eight  or  ten  pages 
of  this  book.  It  is  Document  No.  121  of  House  Reports  of  the  second 
session  of  the  24th  congress,  pages  305,  519,  etc. 

This  memorial  was  very  probably  the  first  request  ever  made  of  the 
general  government  for  aid  in  the  construction  of  a  railroad.  The  act 
of  March  2,  1833,  granting  to  the  state  the  right  to  use  the  grant  of 
March  2,  1827,  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad  in  lieu  of  the  canal, 
is  not  a  like  case.  There  the  donation  had  already  been  made.  Jenkins 
and  Holbrook  proceeded  to  Washington  almost  immediately,  and  placed 
the  memorial  and  accompanying  papers  in  the  hands  of  the  Illinois  mem- 
bers, who  at  once  laid  the  same  before  congress  and  had  the  proper 
reference  made;  and  on  March  31st,  only  two  and  a  half  months  after 
the  act  of  incorporation  had  been  passed,  a  favorable  report  was  made 
and  a  bill  presented  to  congress  making  a  pre-emption  grant.  Consid- 
ering the  means  of  travel  at  that  early  day,  it  will  be  seen  that  these 
Southern  Illinois  and  Illinois  Central  railroad  men  pushed  forward  their 
scheme  for  government  aid  with  a  zeal  seldom  equaled.  The  prayer 
of  the  memorial  is  in  these  words:  "In  conclusion,  your  memorialists 
for  the  foregoing  reasons,  and  many  more  which  the  subject  itself  will 
suggest  to  the  wisdom  and  foresight  of  congress,  pray  that  such  a  dona- 
tion of  lands  as  the  importance  of  the  subject  may  indicate  as  reasonable 
and  proper  may  be  made  to  said  company ;  and  that  a  pre-emption  right 
to  the  whole  or  a  portion  of  the  public  lands  lying  immediately  on  the 
route  of  said  road,  within  a  distance  to  be  specified  on  each  side  thereof 
may  be  secured  to  them  for  a  reasonable  time  within  which  it  may  be 
practicable  to  complete  the  same."  (Signed)  "A.  M.  Jenkins,  President 
of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail  Road  Co."  (and)  "D.  B.  Holbrook,  Treas- 
urer of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail  Road  Co." 

The  bill  was  printed,  but  congressional  action  w^as  soon  arrested 
by  the  state's  embarking  upon  a  system  of  railroad  construction  for 
itself  and  this  led  our  members  of  both  houses  of  congress  to  withhold 
their  support  from  this  particular  enterprise.  Douglas  and  Breese 
knew  all  about  the  internal  improvement  scheme.  Douglas  always 
led,  seldom  followed;  and  it  is  altogether  probable  that  to  him  more 
than  any  one  else  that  ruinous  policy  of  state  railroad  building  was  un- 
dertaken.    He  voted  for  the  bill  of  Februaiy  27,  1837. 

I  have  neither  time  nor  space  to  take  up  and  consider  the  various 
bills  introduced  by  Breese  and  by  Douglas,  and  possibly  one  or  two 
other  persons  at  the  instance  of  the  one  or  the  other  senator.  It  is 
sufficient  to  say  that  Douglas  reached  the  senate  in  December,  1847, 
and  that  he  worked  diligently  for  government  aid  for  an  Illinois  rail- 
road. That  there  were  jealousies  between  them  and  others  interested 
in  the  work,  is  somewhat  fully  set  forth  in  Wentworth's  Congressional 
Reminiscences  in  Fergus's  Historical  Series  No.  24.  This  is  an  ex- 
ceedingly interesting  paper,  giving  his  account  of  this  railroad  enterprise 
in  congress  during  his  service  of  eight  years  in  the  lower  house. 


100  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

But  Senator  Douglas  neither  wanted  nor  sought  an  Illinois  central 
railroad.  The  road  he  wanted  was  a  Chicago  road,  a  road  running 
direct  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  to  Chicago,  and  which  would  have 
had  four-fifths  of  the  state  west  and  north  of  it;  a  road  which  would 
have  left  Vandalia,  Decatur,  Bloomington,  and  LaSalle  far  to  the  west- 
ward. The  road  he  insisted  upon  all  the  time  was  one  from  Cairo  direct 
to  Chicago  and  thence  to  the  upper  Mississippi.  That  was  the  way  he 
desired  to  connect  the  upper  and  lower  Mississippi  with  the  Lakes. 
He  and  his  Chicago  associates,  strongly  supported  by  their  eastern 
friends,  wanted  to  draw  all  the  business  to  Chicago,  whence,  after  reach- 
ing there,  it  would  go  eastw'ard,  and  little  if  any  of  it  towards  the  Gulf. 
They  would  have  succeeded  with  this  plan  had  not  our  other  members 
in  congress  plainly  said  that  they  would  not  stand  for  such  a  road,  which 
could  not  in  any  view  be  called  a  central  railroad.  The  old  line  of 
road  from  Cairo  to  Galena  had  been  before  the  people  too  long,  and 
had  been  insisted  upon  so  strongly  that  to  give  up  the  line  wholly  for 
another  which  had  in  view  only  the  interests  of  one  city  in  the  state  was 
quite  out  of  the  question.  Douglas'  constant  insistance  on  the  Chicago 
road  weakened  the  enterprise  of  a  central  railroad  all  the  time.  He 
and  Breese  had  found  their  plans  in  whatever  shape  presented  meeting 
with  successful  opposition  all  the  while.  One  wanted  more,  and  the 
other  less  because  of  the  great  doubt  as  to  their  being  able  to  get  any- 
thing at  all.  Breese  believed  in  asking  less  and  getting  something, 
rather  than  asking  more  and  getting  nothing. 

This  leads  to  the  inquiry,  how  did  Douglas  at  last  get  his  donation 
of  September  20,  1850?  The  history  of  it  is  told  by  his  brother-in- 
law,  Col.  J.  Madison  Cutts,  of  the  Army,  in  that  large  government 
volume  entieled  "Public  Domain,  1884,  by  Thomas  Donaldson,  262- 
264."  Douglas  seems  to  have  come  finally  to  Breese's  belief  and  to  have 
found  that  government  aid  would  have  to  be  given  up  unless  the  scheme 
could  be  so  presented  as  to  look  like  something  entirely  new.  He  knew 
quite  as  well  as  any  one  else  how  solid  the  Democratic-South  was 
against  his  railroad  land  grant  and  that  unless  he  could  fall  upon  a  plan 
that  would  appeal  to  their  self  interest,  there  was  little  use  of  keeping 
the  matter  longer  before  congress.  He,  therefore,  went  south,  to 
Mobile  and  tw-o  or  three  other  cities,  and  laid  before  the  proper  parties 
his  Illinois  railroad  scheme,  so  modified  as  to  take  in  the  entire  country 
from  the  Ohio  River  to  Mobile,  although  there  were  no  government 
lands  either  in  Kentucky  or  Tennessee.  This  was  something  that  had 
never  been  offered  before.  The  southern  senators,  especially  those  in 
Alabama,  Mississippi  and  Kentucky,  were  kept  in  ignorance  of  the 
object  of  Senator  Douglas'  visit  to  the  south;  and  it  was  only  after  they 
were  importuned  by  many  of  their  constituents  that  they  consented  to 
abandon  their  long  continued  opposition  to  a  government  grant.  It 
was  something  new  to  these  southern  men  in  and  out  of  congress  and 
it  led  to  a  new  view  of  the  matter  of  government  aid.  All  Douglas  had 
to  do  and  all  he  did  do  was  to  take  some  one  of  his  or  Breese's  old  and 
beaten  bills,  change  its  title  and  add  section  seven  to  bring  in  Mississippi 


THE  ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD loi 

and  Alabama  as  donees,  and  the  work  was  done.  In  this  way  the  old 
status  in  quo  of  fifteen  years  was  so  immediately  changed  that  one  must 
have  wondered  why  it  had  not  been  thought  of  long  before.  The  short 
and  simple  title  of  the  old  bill,  making  a  grant  of  lands  in  Illinois  in 
aid  of  a  central  railroad  was  changed  to  "An  act  granting  a  right  of 
way  and  making  a  grant  of  land  to  the  states  of  Illinois,  Mississippi,  and 
Alabama  in  aid  of  the  construction  of  railroad  from  Chicago  to  Mobile." 
This  title  of  Senator  Douglas'  donation  act  of  September  20,  1850,  is  a 
fair  and  just  representation  of  his  attitude  towards  an  Illinois  central 
railroad.  All  he  wanted  was  a  road  to  Chicago.  This  bill  would  have 
been,  throughout,  just  what  its  title  indicates,  had  not  our  other  mem- 
bers of  congress  insisted  that  the  grant  should  be  for  a  railroad  sub- 
stantially as  provided  for  in  the  acts  of  1836,  1843  and  1849. 

But  we  must  submit  proof  of  Douglas'  opposition  to  a  central  rail- 
road. In  his  letter  of  January  5,  1851,  to  Breese,  he  says:  "You  can 
learn,  if  you  will  take  the  trouble  to  inquire  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  Dyer, 
who  is  now  a  member  of  the  Legislature  with  you,  that  in  the  month  of 
September,  1847,  I  urged  him  and  many  other  citizens  of  Chicago  to 
hold  public  meetings  and  send  on  memorials  in  favor  of  a  donation  of 
lands  to  the  state  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  a  central  railroad,  with 
one  terminus  in  Chicago.  It  was  necessary  that  the  road  connect  with 
the  Lakes,  in  order  to  impart  nationality  to  the  project  and  secure 
northern  and  eastern  voters.  The  old  line  from  Cairo  to  Galena 
parallel  with  the  Mississippi,  with  both  termini  on  that  stream,  was  re- 
garded as  purely  a  sectional  scheme,  calculated  to  throw  the  whole  trade 
upon  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  at  the  expense  of  the  Lakes  and  the  Atlantic 
Sea  Board." 

Did  this  statement  of  Senator  Douglas  as  to  the  line  he  desired  the 
road  to  follow  need  confirmation,  it  is  found  in  the  proceedings  of  a 
public  meeting  at  Chicago  January  18,  1848,  presided  over  by  the  Hon. 
Thomas  Dyer,  just  mentioned  in  his  letter.  The  proceedings  were 
published  in  a  small  pamphlet,  a  copy  of  which  is  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  Hon.  William  B.  Gilbert,  who  received  it  from  Col.  Taylor. 
The  following  is  a  copy  of  one  or  two  of  its  pages: 

"Proceedings  and  resolutions  of  a  public  meeting  held  at  Chicago 
on  the  subject  of  a  railroad  to  connect  the  upper  and  lower  Mississippi 
with  the  great  lakes,  printed  at  Chicago  by  R.  L.  Wilson,  Printer,  Daily 
Journal  Office,   1848. 

"A  public  meeting  was  held  at  the  court  house  January  18,  1848. 
Thomas  Dyer,  Chairman;  Dr.  D.  Brainard,  Secretary;  Col.  R.  J. 
Hamilton,  J.  Butterfield,  M.  Skinner,  A.  Huntington  and  E.  B. 
Williams  were  appointed  by  the  chairman  a  committee  to  report  resolu- 
tions ;  which  were  reported  and  unanimously  adopted.  John  S.  Wright, 
M.  Laflin,  J.  Frink,  J.  Rogers  and  William  Jones  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  confer  with  citizens.  [The  last  resolution  of  the  five 
offered  is  in  these  words:] 

"Resolved  that  our  senators  and  representatives  in  the  congress  of 


102 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

the  United  States,  be  requested  to  use  their  best  exertions  to  secure  the 
passage  of  a  law  granting  to  the  State  of  Illinois  the  right  of  way  and 
public  lands  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad  to  connect  the  upper  and 
lower  Mississippi  with  the  lakes  at  Chicago,  equal  to  every  alternate 
section  for  five  miles  on  each  side  of  said  road." 

The  remainder  of  the  pamphlet  of  i6  pages  is  taken  up  with  Mr. 
Butterfield's  address.     In  that  address  is  found  the  following: 

"It  is  proposed  to  construct  a  railroad,  to  connect  the  upper  and  lower 
Mississippi  with  the  great  lakes.  This  railroad  to  commence  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  at  Cairo;  thence  to  proceed  to 
Chicago,  the  head  of  lake  navigation,  and  from  thence  to  Galena  on  the 
upper  Mississippi" 


Let  us  now  show  what  connection  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City 
Property  Trust  had  with  the  above  Chicago  meeting  and  the  general 
work  then  going  on  to  secure  government  aid  for  an  Illinois  central 
railroad.  This  land  trust  company  was  an  association  of  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Boston,  Portland,  Syracuse  and  other  men,  owning  about 
ten  thousand  acres  of  land  between  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers  and 
at  their  junction,  and  who  were  lavishly  spending  their  money  east  and 
west  to  obtain  national  aid  for  a  central  railroad,  which  they  well  knew 
was  necessary  to  their  Cairo  enterprise. 

The  western  representative  of  these  men  was  Samuel  Staats  Taylor, 
of  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  long  connected  with  the  United  States 
Bank.  His  headquarters  were  at  Chicago,  where  he  remained  from  1846 
to  April,  1 85 1,  and  until  the  hard  and  long  protracted  work  at  Wash- 
ington and  Springfield  had  been  brought  to  a  close.  The  Cairo  men, 
or  men  interested  in  Cairo,  beginning  with  Breese,  Holbrook,  Jenkins, 
Gilbert  and  others,  and  ending  with  the  Cairo  City  Property  people, 
had  been  working,  many  of  them  continuously,  for  fifteen  years,  to 
obtain  a  central  railroad,  in  furtherance  of  their  city  enterprise  here  at 
the  junction  of  the  two  rivers.  To  show  what  Taylor  was  doing  at 
Chicago  as  the  representative  of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  I  give  here 
two  separate  statements  made  in  his  own  handwriting  fifty  years  ago. 
They  were  entered  by  him  on  the  large  sheets  of  an  abstract  of  the  title 
to  the  lands  of  the  trust  here,  and  are  as  follows : 

"Public  meeting  of  citizens  of  Chicago  held  January  18,  1848,  at 
the  Court  House,  pursuant  to  public  notice,  to  consider  the  feasibility 
of  constructing  a  railroad  to  connect  the  upper  and  lower  Mississippi 
with  the  Great  Lakes,  recommending  that  a  grant  of  public  lands  be 
made  to  the  State  of  Illinois  for  the  purpose.  This  meeting  was  gotten 
up  at  the  instance  of  Justin  Butterfield,  who  prepared  and  delivered 
at  it  an  elaborate  speech  (a  copy  of  which  see  on  file),  copies  of  which 
and  of  the  proceedings  were  sent  to  the  diliferent  County  Seats  along  the 
proposed  line  of  the  road,  and  public  meetings  held  at  them  advocating 
the  project  and  instructing  their  representatives  in  Congress  to  support 
it.     Mr.  Butterfield  in  this  acted  upon  the  suggestion  of  S.  S.  Taylor, 


THE  ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD 103 

agent  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Propert)^  who  occupied  an 
office  in  Chicago  with  Mr.  Butterfield ;  and  those  Trustees  paid  all  the 
expenses  attendant  upon  the  movement." 

"The  entire  receipts  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  from 
sales,  rents,  wharfage,  and  all  other  sources  have  been  used  in  improve- 
ments and  other  expenditures  at  Cairo,  except  what  was  required  to 
repay  in  New  York  moneys  borrowed  at  the  beginning  of  the  trust, 
about  1848,  to  defray  expenses  connected  principally  with  arrangements 
and  legislation  for  procuring  from  Congress  the  grant  of  land  to  the 
State  to  build  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad." 

The  receipts  of  money  from  the  sources  above  enumerated  were 
probably  a  million  and  a  half  to  two  million  dollars,  and  all  of  it  was 
expended  here  at  Cairo,  "except  what  was  required  to  repay  in  New 
York^  etc."  This  excepted  amount  is  not  given,  but  it  would  not  have 
been  mentioned  at  all,  had  it  not  been  up  in  the  tens  of  thousands. 
Holbrook  was  one  of  the  very  largest  shareholders,  and  never  expected 
to  do  or  effect  much  without  the  use  of  money.  He  and  his  Trustees 
of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  from  the  time  of  their  appointment,  Sep- 
tember 29,  1846,  worked  on  and  constantly  for  the  road,  being  very 
willing  to  get  a  Chicago  road,  if  not  an  Illinois  central  road.  They 
did  very  little  at  Cairo  during  the  intervening  four  or  five  years  and  not 
until  they  were  assured  of  a  great  road  to  the  north.  Just  how  much 
money  they  spent,  or  how  it  was  spent,  or  to  whom  or  where  it  was 
paid,  there  is  no  one  now  living  who  can  tell  much  about  it;  but 
Breese's  letter  to  Douglas  above  referred  to,  contains  this  significant 
passage : 

"In  the  passage  of  the  present  law,  I  had  no  share,  nor  have  I  claimed 
any;  but  you  know  and  I  know  how  it  was  passed.  *  *  *  As  great 
as  may  be  the  credit  to  which  you  are  entitled,  and  I  will  not  detract  from 
it,  you  know  that  it  received  its  most  efficient  support  in  the  house,  from  a 
quarter  where  neither  you  nor  any  of  your  colleagues,  save  one  perhaps, 
had  much  if  any  influence.  It  was  the  votes  of  Massachusetts  and  New 
York  that  passed  the  bills,  and  you  and  I  know  how  they  were  had. 
I  venture  to  say,  the  much  abused  Mr.  Holbrook  and  Col.  Wentworth 
contributed  most  essentially  to  its  success." 

This  language  of  Judge  Breese's  is  most  suggestive.  Observe  some 
of  its  clauses:  You  know  and  I  know  hoiu  it  was  passed  *  *  * 
from  a  quarter  where  neither  you  nor  any  of  your  colleagues,  save  one, 
perhaps,  had  much  if  any  influence  *  *  *  It  was  the  votes  of  Mass- 
achusetts and  New  York  that  passed  the  bills,  and  you  and  I  knoiu  how 
they  were  had.  I  venture  to  say  the  much  abused  Mr.  Holbrook  and 
Col.  JVentworth  contributed  most  essentially  to  its  success. 

We  will  now  let  in  a  little  more  light  on  these  suggestive  state- 
ments of  Breese  to  Douglas.  For  their  illumination,  we  will  refer  to 
Wentworth,  Holbrook,  Webster,  Congressman  Ashmun  and  possibly 
one  or  two  others. 


I04  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Wentworth  was  in  congress  from  December,  1843,  to  September, 
1850;  and  in  his  Reminiscences,  we  are  giving  much  concerning  the 
last  days  of  the  congressional  struggle  for  aid  for  an  Illinois  central 
railroad.  It  seems  to  come  from  one  who  knew  much  about  what  was 
going  on  for  and  against  the  scheme.  He  enlarges  on  the  part  the 
great  Massachusetts  senator  took  in  the  matter;  how  the  eastern  men 
going  to  Washington  inquired  for  him,  then  Secretary  of  State  under 
President  Fillmore ;  how  Webster  gave  them  assurances  and  turned  them 
over  to  Ashmun,  whom  he  regarded  as  equal  to  almost  any  emergency; 
and  then  how  things  moved  on  rapidly  under  Ashmun's  lead  to  the 
triumphant  end.  Back  of  it  all  were  Webster  and  Ashmun,  and  a 
few  other  Massachusetts  and  New  York  men,  with  none  of  whom, 
Breese  says,  Douglas  had  much,  if  any,  influence.  But  there  was  another 
man  there,  a  member  of  the  third  house,  Darius  B.  Holbrook,  as  smart 
and  as  wise  as  almost  any  of  them  and  far  shrewder  than  most  of  them. 
He  had  known  Douglas  long  and  well;  he  knew  Ashmun,  a  Massa- 
chusetts man  like  himself;  he  knew  everybodj'^  worth  knowing  in  such 
an  enterprise  as  they  had  in  hand ;  but  above  all,  he  knew  Webster,  had 
known  him  as  a  client  knows  his  la\^yer  for  fifteen  years,  perhaps  many 
more.  He  had  paid  Webster  a  good  round  fee  in  London,  August  23, 
1838,  for  his  opinion  as  to  the  validity  of  the  Cairo  bonds  Holbrook 
was  putting  on  the  London  market.  See  the  opinion  at  the  end  of  this 
chapter.  Holbrook  was  far  better  acquainted  with  the  whole  history 
of  the  railroad  enterprise  than  Douglas.  He  had  been  with  it  all  the 
time,  fifteen  years,  instead  of  three  or  four,  and  a  directly  interested 
party.  He  could  reach  the  Whigs  in  congress  easier  than  Douglas,  a 
bitter  partisan  all  his  life.  Holbrook  went  to  the  fountain-head  of 
whiggery,  and  enlisted  a  simon-pure  section  of  it  in  his  behalf,  which 
Douglas  never  could  have  done.  He  had  no  doubt  spent  all  of  his 
London  money  of  1838,  but  its  place  was  well  supplied  by  money  from 
Cairo  men,  that  is,  men  of  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Portland 
and  Syracuse,  shareholders  in  Cairo  City  Propert}'^  Trust,  whose  western 
representative  in  Chicago  was  Col.  Samuel  Staats  Taylor,  of  New 
Brunswick,  who  arranged  the  Butterfield  public  meeting  there  January 
18,  1848,  and  who  knew  all  about  the  expenditures  of  the  Trustees  from 
September  29,  1846,  to  February  10,  1851,  and  from  that  time  to  1896. 
From  the  one  date  to  the  other,  these  Cairo  trust  gentlemen  did  nothing 
at  all  at  Cairo  besides  preserving  their  Cairo  property  and  working  for 
the  railroad  land  grant,  on  which  they  knew  their  Cairo  city  so  largely 
depended. 

No  one  can  be  found  who  would  desire  to  detract  from  the  credit 
or  honor  due  Senator  Douglas  for  his  work  and  management  which 
brought  the  long  drawn  out  matter  to  a  successful  end.  But  almost 
every  award  or  suggestion  of  honor  to  him  has  somehow  seemed  a 
denial  of  honor  to  all  others.  He  seemed  quite  willing  to  accept  the 
tender  of  exclusive  honor  and  credit,  although  in  his  correspondence  with 
Judge  Breese  in  1851  he  seemed  willing  to  accord  the  latter  a  fair 
share  of  what  was  being  lavishly  bestowed  upon  him.     He  knew  all 


THE  ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD  105 

about  Breese's  commencement  of  the  work,  his  efEorts  in  and  out  of 
congress  and  that  only  the  vicissitudes  of  politics  removed  him  from 
his  cherished  work  in  that  body.  He  well  knew  that  he  had  only  taken 
up  and  carried  through  successfully  the  undertaking  Breese  had  planned 
and  carried  forward  a  decade  before  he  took  hold  of  it.  He  knew  that 
the  chief  difference  between  them  was  that  Breese  did  not  believe  a 
donation  of  lands  to  the  state  could  be  gotten  and  both  knew  that  one 
of  the  bed-rock  principles  of  their  party  was  opposition  to  such  govern- 
ment aid  or  aid  of  any  kind  for  such  enterprises.  In  Judge  Breese's 
letter  of  January  25,  1851,  in  reply  to  Douglas'  of  the  5th  of  that 
month,  he  presents  at  some  length  this  difference  between  himself  and 
Douglas  as  to  the  line  to  be  adopted  for  the  road.  Douglas  failed  to 
draw  the  whole  road  over  to  Chicago  and  had  to  content  himself  with 
a  branch,  which  differed  very  little  from  the  branch  road  provided  for 
in  Breese's  and  Holbrook's  act  of  February  10,  1849,  which  was  for  a 
road  from  Cairo  to  Chicago,  via  the  southern  terminus  of  the  canal. 
Breese  and  Holbrook  were  compelled  to  yield  to  Chicago's  demand 
that  the  road  should  not  go  on  northward  to  Galena  or  Dubuque ;  but 
in  the  final  outcome,  the  other  members  of  congress  were  able  to  draw 
the  line  back  to  the  old  route. 

Col.  Wentvvorth  either  knew  nothing  about  the  senator's  trip  to 
the  south  or  credited  it  with  no  great  results.  At  all  events,  his  account 
so  fully  corroborates  what  Breese  said  to  Douglas,  in  his  letter  of  January 
25,  185 1,  as  to  whence  the  needed  aid  came,  that  we  must  be  pardoned 
for  quoting  somewhat  at  length  from  the  same. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  superior  confidence  which  all  capitalists  had  in  the 
opinions  of  Mr.  Webster.  This  was  of  inestimable  service  to  the  Illinois  dele- 
gation in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  securing  our  early  railroad  grant.  I 
accent  the  word  early  because,  since  the  census  of  1850,  the  numerical  strength 
of  the  Western  States  has  been  so  greatly  increased  that  liberal  grants  have  been 
secured  without  difficulty.  During  the  period  in  v/hich  we  were  struggling  for 
our  grant,  we  had,  at  different  times,  for  senators,  four  able  and  influential 
men  who  had  been  upon  our  Supreme  Bench  together,  James  Semple,  Sidney 
Breese,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  James  Shields.  But,  as  the  new  States  had 
the  same  number  of  senators  as  the  old  ones,  they  did  not  meet  with  the  same 
obstacles  that  we  did  in  the  House.  Yet  they  were  very  sensitive  as  to  any  one's 
having  superior  credit  over  the  others  for  extra  efforts.  Gen.  Shields,  at  his  last 
visit  to  Chicago,  complained  to  his  friends,  that,  as  a  member  of  the  committee 
upon  public  lands  having  charge  of  the  bill,  he  had  not  had  sufficient  credit  for 
his  efforts  in  the  matter.  "But,"  said  he,  "so  thought  each  of  the  others,  and  no 
one  was  upon  speaking  terms  with  all  the  others  at  the  time  of  his  death."  There 
was  never  any  serious  controversy  in  the  Senate  about  the  passage  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Grant,  as  the  Senate  journals  and  the  congressional  Globe  will 
show.  The  jealousy  of  our  senators  in  respect  to  each  other's  credit  for  the 
passage  of  the  bill  in  the  Senate,  arose  from  the  indiscretion  of  friends  in  claim- 
ing too  much  for  their  favorite,  and  yet  with  no  disposition  to  injure  the  others. 
But  in  the  House  we  could  secure  nothing  of  this  kind  to  quarrel  about.  We 
labored,  and  labored,  and  labored ;  but  it  did  no  good.  There  was  a  great 
sectional  and  political  barrier  which  we  could  not  overcome.  Members  from 
the  old  States  opposed  offering  governmental  inducements  for  western  emigra- 
tion, and  the  Whig  party  wished  the  lands  sold  and  the  proceeds  distributed. 
Thus  matters   had   continued  from   my  entrance   into   Congress,   in    1843,   up   to 


io6  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

September,  1850.  Fortunately,  our  canal  had  been  intrusted  to  a  company  upon 
terms  which  caused  our  canal  indebtedness  to  appreciate  and  secured  its  ultimate 
payment.  As  some  of  the  holders  of  our  canal-bonds  were  also  holders  of  our 
other  bonds,  and  as  they  mostly  were  residents  of  the  older  states  and  members 
of  the  Whig  party,  whence  came  the  opposition  to  our  grant,  the  thought  oc- 
curred to  me  that  we  could  utilize  such  bond-holders  in  securing  our  land  grant. 
A  correspondence  ensued,  which  resulted  in  a  committee  being  sent  to  Washing- 
ton. I  met  them  at  the  depot,  and  their  first  inquiry  was  for  Mr.  Webster.  I 
could  receiv^e  no  encouragement  from  them  until  a  consultation  with  Mr.  Web- 
ster was  had.  I  afterwards  found  out  that  their  original  designs  were  to  have 
the  grant  made  directly  to  a  company;  but  Mr.  Webster  satisfied  them  that  a 
provision  in  a  charter,  like  that  which  was  inserted  eventually,  making  the 
money  payable  to  the  State  solely  applicable  to  "the  payment  of  our  interest — 
paying  State  indebtedness  until  the  extinction  thereof,"  could  not  be  repealed.  I 
went  with  them  to  the  Secretary  of  State's  department,  and  Mr.  W.  received  us 
very  cordially.  He  knew  all  about  our  contract  with  the  canal  company,  and  he 
had  been  consulted  as  to  its  irrepealability.  He  said  there  were  a  great  many 
measures  that  ought  to  be  adopted  by  Congress,  and  which  could  be  if  a  spirit 
of  compromise  could  be  brought  about.  He  said  the  new  States  wanted  land 
grants  and  the  old  States  wanted  some  modification  of  the  tariff  laws;  but  there 
were  members  who  cared  for  neither,  and  who  could  defeat  both  unless  the 
friends  of  both  would  adopt  that  spirit  of  concession  and  compromise  that  had 
been  so  happily  brought  to  bear  in  the  adjustment  of  the  slavery  question.  "Now," 
said  he  to  me,  "my  friend  George  Ashmun  is  a  man  of  remarkably  practical 
good  sense  and  discretion  and,  if  men  of  conflicting  interests  would  rally  around 
him  in  a  spirit  of  compromise,  he  is  capable  of  doing  a  great  deal  of  good.  I 
will  advise  him  lo  call  upon  you,"  and  then  he  made  an  appointment  for  the 
gentlemen  at  his  residence.  I  knew  Mr.  Ashmun's  relation  to  Mr.  Webster  from 
seeing  him  take  Mr.  Webster's  seat  in  the  Senate  when  he  arose  to  make  his  cele- 
brated yth-of-March  speech,  in  that  year ;  and  Mr.  Ashmun  handed  him  his  books 
of  authority,  opened  at  the  appropriate  page,  as  he  progressed.  He  will  be  re- 
membered as  the  president  of  the  national  convention  which  first  nominated  Mr. 
Lincoln.  One  Saturday,  Mr.  Ashmun  says:  "Mr.  Webster  thinks  that  you  and  I, 
by  acting  in  concert,  can  do  our  respective  people  and  the  country  at  large  a 
great  deal  of  good.  What  do  you  say?"  I  said:  "You  know  what  we  Illinois 
men  all  want.  Lead  off."  "Now,"  he  says,  "help  us  upon  the  tariff  where  you 
can,  and  where  you  can  not,  dodge.  And  have  all  your  men  ready  for  Tues- 
day." Promptly  upon  that  day,  17th  September,  1850,  Mr.  Ashmun  made  the 
motion  to  proceed  to  business  upon  the  speaker's  table,  and  when  our  bill  was 
reached,  so  well  did  I  know  our  original  force,  I  could  estimate  the  value  of 
recruits.  And  when  I  saw  our  old  opponents  voting  for  the  bill  in  such  num- 
bers, I  was  so  confident  of  the  result  that  I  ventured  to  telegraph  the  bill's  pass- 
age to  Chicago,  and  it  was  known  there  quite  as  soon  as  the  speaker  declared  the 
result — 101  to  75.  But  for  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Ashmun,  I  am  confident  we 
should  have  had  to  wait  for  a  new  apportionment,  and  then  our  company  would 
have  had  to  compete  with  the  owners  of  other  land-grant  roads  in  the  loan 
market.     And  Webster  would  have  been  dead. 

But  I  must  bring  this  chapter  to  a  close,  already  too  lengthy  for  a 
local  history  like  this.  I  cannot  do  so,  however,  without  stating  some 
of  the  conclusions  which  the  foregoing  pages  clearly  establish. 

1835.  First: — The  present  city  of  Cairo  and  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  were  started  at  the  same  time  and  by  the  same  men,  Breese, 
Baker,  Jenkins,  Gilbert,  Olney  and  Swanwick,  who  entered  the  Cairo 
lands  in  August  and  September,  1835.  In  the  December  and  January 
following,  they  joined  Holbrook  with  them  and  procured  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  charter  of  January  16,  1836.  The  second  day  after- 
wards, namely,  January  18,  1836,  Holbrook  procured  his  charter  for 
the    Illinois    Exporting    Company,    the    incorporators    of    which    were 


THE  ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD 107 

James  S.  Lane,  Thomas  G.  Hawley,  Anthony  Olney,  John  M.  Krum, 
and  himself,  Holbrook.  Breese  says  that  in  those  months,  he  found 
Holbrook  at  Vandalia,  and  that  he  there  unfolded  his  plans  to  him,  and 
that  the  result  was  the  proposal  to  "  form  a  company  to  construct  the 
road  and  build  the  city." 

1836.  Second: — Within  the  first  three  months  of  the  year  1836, 
the  board  of  directors  of  the  railroad  company  met  at  Alton,  prepared 
their  memorial  to  congress  for  government  aid,  sent  Jenkins  the  president, 
and  Holbrook  the  treasurer,  of  the  company,  to  Washington,  who  pre- 
sented the  same  and  had  a  favorable  report  thereon,  and  had  a  bill  in- 
troduced for  aid,  as  prayed  for ;  and  all  this  within  less  than  three  months 
after  the  passage  of  the  railroad  charter  of  January  16,  1836. 

1837  a"d  1838.  Third: — Following  this  railroad  work  came  the 
purchase  of  other  Cairo  lands  and  the  incorporation  March  4,  1837, 
of  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company,  which  was  to  Cairo  what  the  act 
of  January  16,  1836,  was  to  an  Illinois  Central  railroad.  The  inter- 
vention of  the  state,  February  27,  1837,  with  its  scheme  of  internal 
improvements,  arrested  and  well  nigh  upset  all  these  plans  for  railroad 
and  city  building  by  those  Cairo  men.  It  halted  everything  in  congress 
for  government  aid ;  but  while  the  Cairo  men  were  pushed  aside  as  to 
their  own  railroad  plans,  they  accepted  the  situation  and  did  all  they 
could  for  the  state  central  railroad  from  Cairo  to  Galena,  and  went  on 
with  their  city  work  here  at  home  and  in  London. 

1839  and  1840.  Fourth: — The  State's  railroad  and  river  improve- 
ment work  was  tottering  to  its  fall  when  John  Wright  &  Company, 
of  London,  financing  the  Cairo  enterprise,  failed  November  23,  1840; 
and  then  ensued  a  general  state  of  business  illness  almost  everywhere  and 
especially  in  Cairo,  followed  by  a  protracted  convalescence  of  three 
or  four  years. 

1843  to  1846.  Fifth: — Breese  entered  the  senate  and  Douglas 
the  house  in  December,  1843,  and  the  former  at  once  set  to  work  again 
for  government  railroad  aid,  the  latter  doing  little  else  than  opposing 
the  former's  plans.  Holbrook  was  at  work  to  get  his  Cairo  city  work 
again  under  way  and  arranged  for  the  transfer,  September  29,  1846, 
from  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company  of  everything  it  represented,  to 
the  Cairo  City  Property  Trust,  composed  of  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Boston,  Portland,  and  Syracuse  men,  thus  making  the  enterprise  largely 
American  instead  of  English. 

1846  to  1 85 1.  Sixth: — During  part  of  this  time  Breese  and 
Douglas  were  together  in  the  senate,  still  differing  about  the  kind  of 
government  aid  they  should  ask.  Shields  succeeded  Breese  in  December, 
1849,  and  the  Illinois  senatorial  differences  ceased.  The  Trustees  of 
the  Cairo  City  Property,  one  in  New  York  and  one  in  Philadelphia, 
by  direction  of  those  eastern  share-holders,  sent  Samuel  Staats  Taylor, 
of  New  Brunswick,  to  Chicago,  and  he  there  occupied  one  of  Butter- 
field's  offices,  and  managed  the  western  branch  of  the  business  of 
getting  a  railroad  land  grant.  Holbrook  devoted  his  time  to  the  same 
work  in  New  York,  his  home,  in  Philadelphia,  Boston  and  Wash- 
ington, supervising  almost  everything  that  was  done  and  seeing  that  there 


io8  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


was  no  lack  of  money  where  money  was  really  needed.  He  and  Went- 
worth  enlisted  Webster  and  Ashmun  in  their  railroad  and  city  scherne 
and  thereby  reached  Massachusetts  and  New  York  men,  sufficient  in 
number  and  ability  to  assure  the  passage  of  the  bill.  If  we  are  to  accept 
what  these  two  men  have  said  about  the  matter,  the  great  railroad  land 
grant  of  September  20,  1850,  became  a  law  because  of  aid  which  was 
brought  to  it  from  Massachusetts  and  New  York,  rather  than  from  the 
south. 

I  have  thus  established  the  fact  that  the  work  of  securing  an  Illinois 
central  railroad  and  that  of  building  a  city  here,  were  but  the  two  parts 
of  one  enterprise,  carried  on  almost  continuously  from  August,  1835,  to 
February,  185 1,  and  chiefly  by  men  east  and  west  interested  in  the  cit>' 
here.  It  is  also  further  shown  and  clearly  proven  that  Judge  Sidney 
Breese  was  the  originator  of  what  is  now  the  great  Illinois  Central 
Railroad. 

Daniel  Webster,  as  before  remarked,  knew  all  about  Holbrook's 
scheme  of  city  and  railroad  building,  knew  it  as  far  back  as  1839;  and 
when  the  matter  was  again  brought  to  his  attention  in  1850,  when  he 
was  Secretary  of  State,  he  pointed  out  the  way  to  success.  Holbrook 
knew  Webster's  great  influence  with  eastern  public  men  and  of  their 
advocacy  of  internal  improvements  as  well  as  of  a  protective  tariff. 
Following  the  advice  of  Webster,  Holbrook  and  Wentworth  sought  and 
obtained  the  aid  of  Ashmun,  and  the  long  pending  and  almost  hopeless 
bill  for  government  aid  became  a  law.  Breese  said  to  Douglas:  "I 
venture  to  say,  the  much  abused  Mr.  Holbrook  and  Col.  Wentworth 
contributed  most  essentially  to  its  success." 

Webster  and  Holbrook's  acquaintance  and  relations  are  shown  by  the 
following  letter: 

London  Augt  3rd  1839 
I  have  perused  and  considered  two  Indentures  of  deeds  of  trust,  as 
printed  in  a  book  laid  before  me,  which  book  is  marked  on  one  side 
"Citv  of  Cairo,"  and  on  the  other  "Messrs.  Wright  &  Co,"  (and  on 
which  book  I  have  written  my  own  name,  at  the  end  of  one  of  the  deeds 
of  trust,  page  lo)  viz 

One  Indenture  made  and  executed  on  the  Sixteenth  day  of  December 
One  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty  seven,  between  the  Cairo  City 
and  Canal  Company,  and  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  and  Trust 
Company,  and  to  which  Indenture  the  Illinois  Exporting  Company  also 
became  party: 

And  on  the  other  Indenture  called  a  "Deed  Supplemental,"  made  and 
executed  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  June  One  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
thirty  nine,  betw'een  the  said  Illinois  Exporting  Company,  the  said 
Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  and  the  said  New  York  Life  Insurance 
and  Trust  Company 

And  I  am  of  opinion: 

1st.  That  the  conveyance  made  to  the  said  New  York  Life  Insur- 
ance and  Trust  Company  by  the  said  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company 


THE  ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD  109 

by  virtue  of  said  Indentures  and  deeds,  is  a  good  and  valid  conveyance, 
and  effectually  vests  the  property  intended  to  be  conveyed  in  the  said 
New  York  Life  Insurance  and  Trust  Company  for  the  purposes  and 
the  trusts  in  said  Indentures  mentioned  and  set  forth. 

2nd.  That  by  these  Indentures  and  deeds,  the  said  New  York  Life 
Insurance  and  Trust  Company  has  become  bound,  and  is  legally  obligated 
to  all  holders  of  bonds,  issued  in  pursuance  of  said  Indentures,  for  the 
faithful  administration  and  fulfillment  of  said  trust,  by  the  payment  of 
the  interest  and  principal  of  such  bonds,  according  to  their  terms,  to 
the  full  extent  of  all  the  proceeds  of  the  property  conveyed  as  aforesaid 

Danl  Webster 

Legation  of  the  U  States 
London  Augt  3rd  1839 
This  certifies  that  the  foregoing  signature  is  known  to  me  to  be  the 
proper  handwriting  of  the  Hon.  Daniel  Webster,  Counseller  at  Law, 
and  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  now  in  London 

In  the  absence  of  the  Minister 
Benjamin  Rush 
(Seal)  Secretary  of  Legation 

We  attest  the  foregoing  as  being  a  true  copy  of  the  original 

10  September  1839 

P.  O.  Donohoe  (  ^^^'^'  '°  ^  Sdctrs^'"^  ^  ^ 
Chas  Marshall    (         ^        ^  r--     j      t      j 

)         Uovent  Lrarden  London 

Aliens  by  the  Statute  laws  of  the  State  of  Illinois  can  purchase  and 
hold  real  Estate  (Land)  and  may  afterwards  dispose  of  it  by  Will, 
Deed  of  Conveyance,  or  otherwise,  without  any  limitation  or  restriction 
whatever  and  if  the  purchaser  should  chance  to  die  intestate,  it  would 
descend  to  his  heirs  or  next  of  kin  of  equal  degree  in  equal  proportions 
(the  law  of  primogeniture  not  being  in  force  in  that  Country)  saving 
to  the  Widow,  if  any,  in  such  cases  the  one  third  part  of  the  land  as 
dower  during  her  natural  life,  and  in  respect  to  heirship,  it  makes  no 
difference  whether  the  children  or  next  of  kin  of  such  Purchaser  are  at 
the  time  of  his  decease  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  subjects  of  Great 
Britain.  It  may  not  be  unimportant  also  to  know  that  land  purchased 
originally  from  the  United  States  at  any  of  the  Government  Land 
offices  in  Illinois  (there  yet  being  a  large  portion  of  the  public  domain 
in  that  State  unsold)  is  not  subject  to  taxation  for  any  purpose  what- 
soever until  the  expiration  of  five  years  from  the  day  of  the  purchase. 
This  exemption  is  in  consequence  of  a  special  compact  between  the  United 
States  and  the  State  of  Illinois,  in  consideration  of  certain  immunities 
granted  by  the  former  to  the  latter. 

Richard  M.  Young 

of  Quincj'^ — Illinois 
and  at  present  a  Senator  from  that  State 
to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
London  Oct  25th  1839 
267  Regent  Street 


no  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Honor  to  Whom  Honor  is  Due. — This  scriptural  injunction  was 
forgotten  when  some  of  Senator  Douglas'  Chicago  friends  proposed 
a  celebration  in  his  honor  for  the  great  work  he  had  accomplished.  It 
was  to  be  for  him  and  him  only.  Douglas  himself  saw  this  and  pro- 
tested somewhat  in  favor  of  others.  He  did  not,  however,  even  mention 
Breese,  who,  in  any  view  of  the  history  of  the  great  work,  should  have 
been  mentioned  along  with  himself  if  not  first  of  the  two.  Breese 
seeing  the  slight  put  upon  him,  like  any  other  man  of  spirit,  addressed 
to  Douglas  the  letter  of  January  25,  185 1,  a  few  lines  of  the  introductory 
part  of  which  are  as  follows: 

"I  thought  I  had  discovered  a  studious  endeavor  on  your  part,  and 
on  the  part  of  those  with  whom  you  have  acted,  to  conceal  from  the 
public  my  agency  in  bringing  the  measure  into  favor,  and  in  opening  the 
way  for  successful  legislation  in  regard  to  it.  In  none  of  the  speeches 
and  letters  you  and  others  who  have  your  confidence,  have  made  and 
written,  has  there  been  the  least  allusion  to  the  part  I  have  acted  in 
the  matter,  nor  in  any  of  the  papers  in  the  state,  supposed  to  be  under 
your  influence.  Seeing  this,  and  believing  there  was  a  concerted  effort  to 
appropriate  to  yourselves,  exclusively,  honors,  to  which  I  knew  you  were 
not  entitled,  I  deemed  it  my  duty,  for  the  truth  of  history,  to  assert  my 
claim,  and  in  doing  so,  have  been  compelled,  much  against  my  will, 
to  speak  of  myself,  and  of  my  acts  in  regard  to  it." 

In  the  language  of  lawyers,  I  respectfully  sumbit  that  all  that  Judge 
Breese  ever  claimed  for  himself  in  regard  to  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
has  been  fully  established  in  the  foregoing  pages. 


mmmmSKi^U 


Plan  of  Cairo,  1S3S 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MAPS    AND    PLATS 

BEFORE  referring  to  the  maps  and  plats  of  Cairo  as  made  by  the 
land  companies  which  desired  to  start  and  establish  a  city  here, 
I  desire  to  call  attention  to  a  list  of  old  French  and  English 
maps  which  show  the  early  existence  here  of  a  French  fort,  probably  the 
very  first  structure  ever  erected  at  this  point  or  place.  These  old  maps 
might  have  been  very  properly  given  in  that  part  of  the  book  where  I 
have  spoken  of  Sieur  Charles  Juchereau  de  Saint  Denis  and  his  fort 
and  tannery,  but  I  have  thought  it  best  to  include  them  herein. 

I  have  made  a  very  careful  investigation  of  the  matter  of  the  exis- 
tence of  an  old  French  fort  here  or  within  a  few  miles  of  the  place,  not 
further  off,  certainly,  than  the  hills  which  approach  close  to  Cache 
River  about  six  miles  north  of  us.  I  have  done  this  in  order  to  ascertain 
if  the  old  fort  could  probably  have  been  the  later  Fort  Massac,  forty 
miles  up  the  Ohio  River  from  us.  In  volume  No.  8,  pp.  38  to  64,  of 
the  Publications  of  the  Illinois  Historical  Society,  is  found  an  able 
paper  by  Mrs.  Mathew  T.  Scott,  of  Bloomington,  entitled  "Old  Fort 
Massac."  In  this  paper  Juchereau  is  frequently  spoken  of  and  his  fort 
mentioned  as  the  early  or  first  Fort  Massac.  Mrs.  Scott's  quotations 
from  the  Margry  papers,  especially  her  quotations  in  the  original  French, 
pp.  57  and  58,  tend  strongly  to  show  that  Juchereau's  fort  was  not 
on  the  Ohio  River  forty  miles  from  its  mouth,  but  w^as  at  or  very  near 
to  the  mouth  of  the  river;  otherwise,  it  is  very  hard  to  account  for  such 
language  as  this:  "A  la  riviere  de  Ouabache  dans  le  lieu  ou  elle  se 
descharge  dans  le  Mississippi"  and  "a  la  embouchere  de  la  riviere 
a  Ouabache  sur  la  Mississippi." 

Fort  Massac  was,  of  course,  at  first  and  for  a  long  time,  a  French 
fort  or  post;  and  the  generally  accepted  authority  about  the  matter  is 
that  it  was  established  at  that  place  or  point  on  the  Ohio  to  protect 
the  French  northwestern  country  from  the  strong  and  warlike  tribe  of 
Cherokee  Indians.  These  Indians  dwelt  along  the  line  of  the  Tennessee 
River,  which,  for  a  long  time  in  the  earliest  history  of  the  country,  was 
called  and  put  down  on  the  maps  as  the  Cherokee  River.  The  fort  was 
on  the  first  high  ground  below  the  mouth  of  that  river  and  was  well 
located  to  defend  against  incursions  of  these  Indians  into  the  northwest 
country.  I  have  made  inquiries  at  many  places  and  have  been  uniformly 
told  there  can  be  little  doubt  as  to  this  old  fort  being  at  or  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio  River  and  not  at  the  site  of  Fort  Massac. 

The  site  of  the  old  French  fort  is  indicated  on  the  old  maps  by  a 
cross  or  star  on  the  point  where  the  two  rivers  unite.     The  list  of 


112  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

thirty-five  to  fortj^  old  maps,  procured  by  me  from  the  Library  of 
Congress  and  the  Historical  Library  of  Chicago,  show  an  old  fort 
here,  with  such  descriptive  words  as  these:  Old  Fort;  Vieu  Fort; 
French  Fort  Ruined;  French  Ft.;  Ancient  Fort;  Fr.  Ft.;  Altes  Fort; 
The  Fort;  Ancient  Fort;  Fort;  The  Fort;  French  Fort;  French  Fort 
Destroyed;  Ruined  Fort;  Ancient  Fort  Francois;  1755,  An.  Ft.,  R.,  a  la 
Cache;  1765,  Lieut.  Ross,  Ancient  Fort  Destroyed;  Delisle,  1718;  Ho- 
mann,  1730;  Popple,  1733;  Le  Roque,  1742;  Scale,  1744,  D'Anville, 
1746;  Jeffreys,  Bellin,  London  Magazine,  1755;  Rocque,  Overton  and 
Sayer,  1755  to  1766;  Rhode,  1758;  Homann,  1759;  Bowen  and  Gibson 
and  Bowles,  1763;  Kilian,  1764;  Delarochette,  1765;  D'Anville  and 
Scale,  1771;  Pingeling,  1776;  1777,  1778,  1783,  1784,  1785,  1796 
and  1798,  D'Anville  Lodge,  Beaurain,  Walker,  Boudet,  Gussefeld, 
Wilkes,  Sa3^er  and  Bennett,  and  Phelipean. 

The  first  map  or  plat  of  Cairo  was  made  in  the  city  of  Baltimore 
in  1818  by  Cone  &  Freeman.  John  G.  Comegj^s  no  doubt  had  charge 
of  the  work.  A  Major  Duncan  had  made,  it  is  supposed,  the  necessary 
surveys;  but  it  is  not  certain  that  surveys  w^ere  made.  They  may 
have  made  the  plat  to  represent  what  they  thought  would  represent 
the  plan  of  the  city  when  the  surveys  were  made  for  streets,  blocks, 
lots  and  public  grounds.  We  present  elsewhere  an  exact  copy  of  this 
plat,  which  is  also  somewhat  fully  described  in  Chapter  IV. 

The  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  made  a  few  maps  of  the  site 
as  they  proposed  to  lay  it  out  for  a  city;  but  it  is  said  no  actual  surveys 
were  made  and  that  all  that  was  done  was  the  making  of  outline  plans, 
showing  streets,  blocks  and  public  grounds,  but  no  lots.  Their  first  civil 
engineers  were  William  Strickland  and  Richard  C.  Taylor.  The 
former  styled  himself  architect  and  engineer,  and  the  latter  engineer 
and  geologist.  A  copy  of  one  of  these  maps  is  found  elsewhere,  and  a 
copy  of  the  survey  by  James  Thompson,  made  in  1837,  ^^r  that  com- 
(pany,  and  also  a  copy  of  a  map  showing  the  line  of  their  proposed 
canal.  This  company  never  in  fact  reached  a  stage  of  platting  for 
the  sale  of  lots  or  other  property.  This  seems  always  to  have  been  a 
matter  of  the  future;  and  their  long  delay  in  offering  property  for 
sale  was  the  cause  of  many  complaints  and  kept  the  people  who  were 
here  in  a  very  unsettled  condition.  The  situation  or  site  did  not  admit 
of  an  easy  platting  into  satisfactory  subdivisions  for  a  city;  and  hence 
the  divers  kinds  and  descriptions  of  plats  made  by  the  different 
proprietors. 

It  is  not  until  w-e  reach  the  Cairo  City  Propert\^  people  that  we 
find  almost  a  penchant  for  cit\'  map-making.  Col.  Taylor  in  his  dep- 
osition, already  referred  to,  states  that  their  first  plat  was  filed  and 
became  a  public  record  December  10,  1853,  and  that  all  maps  or 
plats  made  before  that  time  were  merely  provisional  affairs  and  bound 
no  one.  In  the  suit  in  which  that  deposition  was  taken,  the  citj^'s 
attorneys  produced  a  map  which  they  claimed  showed  that  the  wharf 
or  river  frontage  and  certain  other  grounds  were  public  property  or  had 
been  dedicated  to  the  public.     The  proof  on  this  point  does  not  seem 


MAPS  AND  PLATS  113 


to  have  been  very  strong,  and  Col.  Taylor's  testimony  seems  to  have 
been  quite  sufficient  to  overcome  it.  The  earlier  maps  of  Col.  Taylor's 
Trustees  exhibited  many  features  which  did  not  appear  on  the  one 
filed  for  record  in  1853,  or  on  any  others  subsequently  filed.  On 
the  earlier  ones,  a  number  of  public  parks  were  indicated,  among  them 
Crescent  Park,  at  what  was  then  the  southern  point  of  the  city ;  Town- 
send  Park,  of  considerable  size,  north  of  17th  Street  and  adjoining 
Cedar  Street  on  the  west;  Delta  Park,  in  the  curve  of  the  Mississippi 
levee  as  it  turns  northward  out  near  the  river;  and  St.  Mary's  Park 
extended  from  the  present  Park  Avenue  all  the  way  over  to  Washington 
Avenue.  As  thus  laid  out  or  marked  on  the  plat,  this  park  was  more 
than  twice  its  present  size ;  but  the  Trustees  seem  to  have  felt  that 
their  lands  were  too  valuable  to  admit  of  so  much  thereof  being  devoted 
to  the  uses  of  the  public. 

Holbrook  Avenue  once  bore  the  name  of  Schuyler  Avenue,  after 
Robert  Schuyler,  the  first  president  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company ;  but  Schuyler  having  fallen  into  disrepute,  the  name  of  the 
avenue  was  changed  to  Holbrook.  On  one  of  these  early  plats  the  lines 
of  the  old  Holbrook  levees  up  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  are  indi- 
cated, and  the  cross  levee  built  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Miles  A. 
Gilbert  from  a  point  near  the  intersection  of  18th  Street  and  Ohio  Street 
on  the  Ohio  River  to  a  point  where  Thirty-fourth  Street,  if  extended, 
would  intersect  the  Mississippi  shore.  The  land  inclosed  by  these 
three  levees  seems  to  be  spoken  of  as  the  original  city  or  the  first 
division  thereof. 

West  of  Holbrook,  Park  Street  extended  to  the  Park  and  from 
thence  it  was  called  Park  Avenue.  Further  on  West  were  Mulberry 
Street,  Cypress  Street,  Oak  Street,  Papaw  Street,  and  last  of  all  was 
Metropolitan  Avenue.  On  this  plat  there  was  no  street  east  of  Com- 
mercial Avenue.  The  cross  streets  extended  to  what  is  now  the  rail- 
road bridge  embankment  and  the  last  of  them  was  platted  4yth  Street. 
Maps  with  these  parks  indicated  thereon  as  above  described  and 
attached  to  the  lengthy  notices  advertising  ther  city  were  circulated 
all  over  the  country  as  late  as  1855  and  1856;  and  is  it  to  be  thought 
strange  that  the  people,  when  they  saw  that  these  public  places,  sup- 
posedly dedicated  to  the  public,  were  one  by  one  being  withdrawn  or 
erased  from  the  city  plats,  were  more  and  more  confirmed  in  their 
opposition  to  the  policy  and  management  of  the  Trustees?  This 
feature  of  the  situation  furnished  one  of  the  chief  grounds  for  the  suit 
instituted  by  Judge  Fredolin  Bross  against  the  company  in  the  year 
1864.  and  which  is  more  fully  referred  to  elsewhere. 

One  map,  a  very  large  one  and  which  Mr.  Miles  A.  Gilbert,  in 
his  affidavit  given  in  the  chapter  on  the  "Wharf  and  Wharfage,"  says 
is  a  copy  of  the  small  one  made  by  Strickland  &  Taylor,  was  on  file 
in  the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States  at  Springfield  in  the  suit 
begun  by  the  Trustees  against  the  City  of  Cairo  in  1864.  I  have 
obtained  leave  from  the  Hon.  J.  Otis  Humphrey,  judge  of  the  said 
circuit  court,  to  withdraw  the  same  for  presentation  to  the  A.  B. 
Safford  Memorial  Library. 


114 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Explanations  of  Maps. — Henrie's  survey  of  our  township  was 
made  in  1807,  and  when  it  was  a  part  of  the  Randolph  County  of  In- 
diana Territory,  and  when  the  Indians  were  to  be  seen  almost  every- 
where. The  frightful  massacre  in  the  township  just  this  side  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Cache  River  took  place  February  9,  1813.  Some  of  the 
Birds  were  probably  here  then  and  very  near  the  point.  Col.  Taylor, 
in  his  deposition  taken  in  1866  in  his  suit  against  the  city  in  the  United 
States  court  at  Springfield,  said  that  when  he  came  here  in  April, 
1 85 1,  only  about  fifty  acres  of  the  land  on  the  Ohio  and  near  the  point 
had  been  cleared  and  that  the  remainder  of  the  country  in  this  vicinity 
was  covered  with  very  dense  woods. 

Comeg>'s'  or  Major  Duncan's  map  of  181 8  was  made  in  Baltimore 
that  year  by  Cone  and  Freeman,  and  is  fully  explained  in  Chapter  IV. 

James  Thompson's  survey  of  the  township  in  1837  was  accompanied 
with  the  fullest  possible  field  notes  and  explanations,  contained  in  the 
small  book  described  in  Chapter  VI. 

Strickland  and  Taylor's  map  of  the  city  and  the  map  showing  the 
plan  of  the  canal  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  both  of  the 
year  1838,  need  no  explanation  further  than  to  say  that  they  were 
provisional  representations  of  what  the  city  was  to  be  as  planned  by  the 
Holbrook  administration,  from  1836  to  1846.  They  are  interesting 
for  a  number  of  reasons,  chiefly,  perhaps,  for  showing  the  line  of  the 
state's  Illinois  Central  Railroad  under  the  act  of  February  27,  1837. 

Long's  topographical  map  of  July,  1850,  is  but  one  of  the  four  which 
were  on  file  in  the  War  Department  at  Washington.  The  other 
three  could  not  be  found.  I  regret  ver)^  much  I  was  not  able  to  get 
trace  of  the  one  which  showed  the  full  and  complete  plan  of  the 
city  as  laid  out  by  Long  in  1850.  It  no  doubt  differed  very  materially 
from  the  official  map  of  the  Trustees  filed  at  the  court  house  December 
10,  1853.  The  topographical  map  shows  what  the  cit}'  of  Cairo  was 
when  it  came  into  possession  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Prop- 
erty. Long  was  here  at  work  tvvo  or  three  years  before  Col.  Taylor 
came.  One  of  his  letters  to  Taylor  &  Davis  at  Philadelphia  is  numbered 
149  and  is  dated  October  10,  1854.  The  map  shows  the  old  hotel 
nearest  the  point,  the  post-office  and  stores,  the  foundation  of  the  great 
warehouse,  sometimes  called  the  London  warehouse,  the  machine  shop, 
the  saw-mills,  the  foundry,  the  brickyards,  the  taverns  and  the  groceries, 
and  the  cottages  of  the  company  standing  back  somewhat  from  the 
Ohio  levee.  I  need  not  go  further.  The  map  speaks  for  itself.  You 
see  the  small  space  of  cleared  land  and  the  wide  extended  and  dense 
woods;  the  three  levees  of  12,320  feet,  4,789  feet  and  8,670  feet,  re- 
spectively, the  latter  built  by  Judge  Gilbert  in  1843,  all  inclosing 
778.75  acres  of  land ;  also  the  crevasse  in  the  Mississippi  levee  of  the 
length  of  1,675  feet,  made  by  the  great  flood  of  March,  1849,  of  which 
Editor  Sanders  speaks  in  his  Cairo  newspaper,  "  The  Cairo  Delta,"  of 
March  20,  1849. 

The  Picture  of  Cairo  in  1841 — This  picture  is  the  earliest  repre- 
sentation of  what  is  set  forth  in  Long's  map  of  July,  1850.     It  is  taken 


MAPS  AND  PLATS 


115 


from  "  The  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  Illustrated,"  December  number 
1 841,  published  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  by  J.  C.  Wild,  at  the  Republi- 
can Printing  Office.  This  publication  was  in  magazine  form  and  con- 
tained from  time  to  time  series  of  views  of  the  principal  cities,  towns, 
public  buildings  and  picturesque  scenery  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
rivers.  The  literarj-  department  was  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Lewis 
F.  Thomas  and  the  drawing  and  lithographing  under  that  of  Mr.  J.  C. 
Wild.  Mr.  S.  R.  A.  Holbrook,  of  Boston,  sent  this  particular  number 
to  Mr.  M.  Easterday  some  years  ago,  and  to  the  latter  I  am  indebted 
for  its  use  here.  This  number  contains  three  other  fine  cuts,  a  splendid 
river  view  at  Grand  Tower,  a  view  of  Selma,  Missouri,  and  one  of 
Prairie  Du  Rocher  and  Darbeau's  Creek  where  it  enters  the  Mississippi 
in  Illinois.  The  picture  shows  most  of  the  buildings  as  they  appear 
on  Long's  map.  It  also  shows  that  few  changes  had  taken  place  from 
December,  1841,  to  the  time  Long  made  his  map.  In  both  the  picture 
and  map  are  seen  the  old  and  noted  hotel  at  the  point  spoken  of  by  Mr. 
D._  S.  Crumb  as  being  there  May  29,  1836;  then  above,  the  postoffice 
building  and  stores;  the  large  long  house  fronting  the  Ohio,  no  doubt 
Holbrook's,  or  erected  by  him;  then  the  low  cottages;  next  the  three- 
story  machine  shop,  which  Judge  Gilbert  defended  so  strongly  against 
Cairo's  first  mob;  then  the  saw-mills  with  their  slanting  log-ways  to 
the  river;  then  the  large  foundry;  then  in  the  picture,  the  steamboat 
"Tennessee  Valley,"  built  the  latter  part  of  1841  and  early  in  1842, 
and  enrolled  at  the  New  Orleans  custom  house  April  23,  1842.  This 
vessel  was  built  and  equipped  at  Cairo,  the  timbers  furnished  directly 
from  the  saw-mills  and  the  machinery  from  the  foundn^,  there  and 
nearby.  The  owner  and  Captain,  Samuel  G.  Patton  and  M.  W.  Irwin, 
lived  at  Florence,  Alabama.  (See  the  certificate  from  the  Bureau  of 
Navigation  at  Washington,  dated  the  3d  day  of  February,  1910.)  This 
steamboat  was  on  the  ways,  as  seen  in  the  picture,  or  had  but  left  them  a 
short  time  before  Charles  Dickens  arrived  at  Cairo  on  the  steamboat 
"  The  Fulton,"  Saturday,  April  9,  1842.  He  undoubtedly  saw  what  is 
seen  in  the  picture,  except  possibly  the  steamboat.  Almost  everything  seen 
in  the  picture  was  there  when  Long  made  his  map.  There  was  indeed 
not  much  of  a  city  here  in  April,  1842;  but  Dickens'  representation  as 
to  what  he  saw  is  so  far  from  the  truth  that  it  cannot  be  accounted 
for  on  any  other  theory  than  that  he  did  not  want  to  state  the  situation 
as  he  actually  saw  it  for  the  hour  or  two  he  was  here. 

The  other  cuts,  pictures  and  representations  in  the  book  so  fully 
explain  themselves  that  I  need  not  say  anything  in  reference  thereto. 

I  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting  to  the  purchasers  of  this  book  the 
careful  preservation  of  the  maps.  Some  of  them  can  be  easily  torn  in 
the  folding  and  the  unfolding.  They  are  very  important  and  valuable 
parts  of  the  history  because  they  show  the  actual  situation  and  con- 
dition of  things  at  the  various  times  they  were  made.  They  set  forth 
clearly  and  fully  a  great  deal  in  the  citj^'s  historj^  that  could  not  be  so 
well  presented  by  merely  written  descriptions.  To  remove  them  from 
the  book  would  leave  it  in  many  respects  very  incomplete. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    OHIO    AND     MISSISSIPPI    RIVERS THE     TERRITORY    DRAINED THE 

OHIO   RIVER  AS  A   BOUNDARY 

IN  July,  1847,  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  issued  their 
first  pamphlet  circular,  entitled  "  Circular  and  other  Docu- 
ments Relating  to  the  Cairo  City  Property  at  the  Con- 
fluence OF  THE  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  Illinois;"  New 
York:  H.  Cogswell,  Printer  and  Stationer,  19  &  21  Merchants  Ex- 
change, 1847.  The  pamphlet  contains  41  pages,  and  its  table  of  contents 
is  as  follows:  ist,  Skeleton  Map  of  the  United  States;  2nd,  Circular  by 
the  Trustees,  14  pages;  3rd,  Map  of  the  Site  of  Cairo,  2  pages;  4th, 
Report  of  William  Strickland  and  R.  C.  Taylor,  engineers,  5  pages;  5th, 
Extract  from  a  Report  by  J.  Freeman,  engineer,  to  Legislature  of 
Illinois,  2  pages;  6th,  Extract  from  Report  of  Committee  of  Congress, 
I  page;  7th,  Extract  from  Report  of  Committee  of  Legislature  upon 
Central  Railroad  and  Cairo  as  the  terminus,  2^  pages ;  8th,  S.  Worsley, 
engineer.  Report  to  English  Proprietors,  4  pages;  9th,  Letter  of  H. 
Baldwin,  Esq.,  to  Trustees,  i^  pages;  loth,  Another  Letter  by  him  to 
same,  i  page;  nth,  Extract  from  Western  Review,  6  pages;  12th,  Ex- 
tract from  S.  A.  Mitchell's  work  on  Illinois,  i  page;  13th,  Names  and 
lengths  of  western  rivers,  i  page. 

The  following  is  the  last  page,  page  41,  of  the  pamphlet  with  the 
names  and  spelling  just  as  given  therein. 

memorandum 

TAKEN   FROM    PECk's   GAZETTEER  OF   THE   LENGTH    OF   THE   OHIO   AND 
MISSISSIPPI  RIVERS  AND  THEIR  TRIBUTARIES,  ABOVE  THE 
CITY   OF   CAIRO,      (a.   D.    1 847.) 

Rivers  and  Recipient.                 Miles.  Rivers  and  Recipient.                 Miles. 

Alleghany,    Ohio    300       Missouri,  Mississippi    3>2i7 

Cumberland,   Ohio   45°       Ohio,  Mississippi    945 

Grand  Kanawha,   Ohio   327       Ouisconsin,    Mississippi    380 

Grand  Miama,  Ohio I74       Rock,   Mississippi   285 

Green    Run,    Ohio 3°^       Rum,  Mississippi    127 

Guyandot,  Ohio 134       St.  Peters,  Mississippi 400 

Hocking,   Ohio    100       Salt,    Mississippi    200 

Kentucky,    Ohio    3^2       Turkey,    Mississippi 135 

Licking,   Ohio   204       Upper    Iowa,    Mississippi    180 

Little  Kanawha,  Ohio 127       Big  Sandy,  Tennessee    160 

Monongahela,  Ohio  216       Clinch,  Tennessee    230 

Muskingum,   Ohio   203       Duck,   Tennessee    185 

Salt,   Ohio    no       Elk,  Tennessee   125 

Sciota,  Ohio   2CX5       Halston,  Tennessee    230 

Tennessee,    Ohio    850       Caney  Fork,  Cumberland    100 

Wabash,   Ohio    477  S.  Fork   Cumberland,  Cumberland  105 

116 


r 


C.S^UJiN.O.R.a. 
MAP  sniwlMi 

MISSISSIPPI  A.VD  OHIO  RIMiRS 


Ohio  axd  Mississippi  Rivers  at  Cairo 


THE  OHIO  AND  MISSISSIPPI  RIVERS 


117 


Rivers  and  Recipient.  Miles. 

Au  Canoe,  Missouri   100 

Chariton,   Missouri    143 

Crow  Wing,   Missouri    115 

East  Fork,   Missouri    145 

Gasconade,  Missouri 204 

Grand,    Missouri    272 

Grand  Nemanha,  Missouri   220 

Konzas,   Missouri    1,200 

Nodaway,    Missouri    115 

Osage,    Missouri    293 

Wood,  Missouri    120 

Chippewa,    Missouri    200 

Des  Moines,   Mississippi 400 

Forked  Deer,  Mississippi 114 

Great   Maquanguetois,    Mississippi  120 

Illinois,  Mississippi    400 

Kaskaskia,   Mississippi    250 

Lower  Iowa,  Mississippi    237 

Maramic,   Mississippi    184 

Nolicuchy,  French  Broad   125 

Pickamink,   Kankakee   100 

Powells,    Clinch    105 

9,754 


Rivers  and  Recipient.  Miles. 

Des  Plaines,  Illinois   100 

Fox,    Illinois    104 

Kankakee,  Illinois    143 

Mackinaw,    Illinois    113 

Sangamon,    Illinois    175 

Spoon,    Illinois    125 

Embarras,  Wabash   135 

Little  Wabash,    Wabash    200 

Missineway,  Wabash    100 

White,  Wabash    260 

East   Fork,   White    (In.) 228 

West  Fork,  White   (In.)   225 

French  Road,  Holston   (Tenn.)    ..  176 

Grand,    Osage    134 

North   Fork,   Osage    130 

Greenbrier,    Kanawha    130 

Kaskiminetos,  Alleghany    103 

Long  Beach,  Grand 130 

Miss.  Gulf  of  Mexico 3,000 

New,  Great  Kanawha   115 

Pine,    Ouisconsin    125 

Rufus,   Chippewa  100 


Total  miles 22,799 

The  rivers  less  than  100  miles  long  are  omitted. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  there  are  other  rivers,  longer  than  100  miles, 
whose  names  are  not  given;  for  instance,  the  Youghiogheny  River, 
which  rises  in  Maryland  and  flows  150  miles  to  its  junction  with  the 
Monongahela,  some  little  distance  southeast  of  Pittsburg.  The  Alle- 
gheny rises  in  Potter  County,  Pennsylvania,  flows  northward  into 
New  York,  then  southward  into  Pennsylvania  again  and  reaches  Pitts- 
burg, 350  miles  from  its  source.  This  river  is  regarded  as  the  extension 
of  the  Ohio  from  Pittsburg  northward. 

Waters  from  fourteen  states  reach  the  Mississippi  and  pass  Cairo, 
namely,  Missouri,  Kansas,  Colorado,  Nebraska,  Iowa,  Wyoming,  Mon- 
tana, South  Dakota,  North  Dakota,  Minnesota,  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 
Illinois  and  Indiana.  Waters  from  thirteen  states  reach  the  Ohio 
and  pass  Cairo,  namely,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland,  West  Virginia,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  Tennessee,  and  Kentucky.  These  make  t\\^entj'-five  states, 
counting  Illinois  and  Indiana  but  once.  Waters  from  some  of  these 
states  flow  in  other  directions;  but  making  all  due  allowances,  it  will 
be  seen  what  a  drainage  area  is  here  presented !  And  is  it  any  wonder 
that  almost  always  in  the  springtime  and  at  other  times,  now  and  then 
occurring,  we  may  expect  these  tw^o  vast  water-sheds  to  pour  down 
upon  us,  or  at  our  very  feet,  their  accumulated  floods?  If  we  were 
upon  a  rock-ribbed  promontor\'  instead  of  a  tongue  of  alluvium  and 
sand,  we  might  defy  their  threatenings.  We  are  not  so  situated,  how- 
ever, and  hence  it  is  a  vital  condition  to  our  existence  that  these  monster 


ii8  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


rivers,  fed  from  the  mountains  and  the  skies,  should  be  kept  always  and 
safely  at  bay. 

The  Ohio  River  as  a  Boundary. — The  word  northwest, 
as  applied  to  this  territorial  district  of  our  country,  has  come 
down  to  us  from  the  old  Virginia  charter  of  1 609.  The  grant 
was  of  "  all  that  space  and  circuit  of  land,  lying  from  the 
sea  coast  from  the  precinct  aforesaid,  up  to  the  land  throughout  from 
sea  to  sea,  west  and  northwest."  The  territory  was  west  and  northwest, 
and  embraced  what  is  now  Kentucky  and  what  has  always  been  known 
as  the  northwest  territory.  The  Kentucky  country  was  afterwards 
known  as  the  southwest  territory,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  territory 
north  of  the  Ohio  River.  Virginia  retained  the  southwest  or  Kentucky 
territory  or  country,  and  granted  to  the  Federal  Government  the  territory 
northwest  of  the  Ohio.  This  left  the  Ohio  River  wholly  within  her 
own  territorial  boundaries.  In  all  the  acts  of  congress  and  of  the 
states,  in  reference  to  the  matter,  the  south  or  southeastern  boundary 
lines  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois  have  been  spoken  of  as  the  Ohio 
River  or  the  "northwestern  shore"  thereof. 

The  question  as  to  what  jurisdiction  the  states  north  of  the  Ohio 
River  had  upon  or  over  the  same  arose  at  a  very  early  day,  and  the  de- 
cisions of  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  courts  tended  strongly  to  establish 
an  exclusive  jurisdiction  on  the  part  of  those  two  states  respectively. 
The  very  first  reference  was,  of  course,  to  the  nth  section  of  the  Vir- 
ginia act  of  December  18,  1789;  13  Hening's  Va.  St.  At  Large, 
jg.  This  act  is  entitled  an  act  concerning  the  erection  of  the  district  of 
Kentucky  into  an  independent  state,  and  the  nth  section  thereof  is  in 
these  words: 

"  Sec.  II.  The  use  and  navigation  of  the  river  Ohio,  so  far  as  the 
territory  of  the  proposed  state,  or  the  territory  which  shall  remain 
within  the  limits  of  this  commonwealth  lies  therein,  shall  be  free  and 
common  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States.  And  the  respective  juris- 
dictions of  this  commonwealth  and  of  the  proposed  state,  on  the  river 
as  aforesaid,  shall  be  concurrent  only  with  the  states  which  may  possess 
the  opposite  shores  of  the  said  river." 

The  Virginia  and  Kentucky  courts  held  that  this  section  of  the 
Virginia  act  gave  jurisdiction  to  the  three  states  north  of  the  river,  but 
they  made  so  much  of  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  jurisdictions  that 
what  was  left  to  the  states  north  of  the  river  could  serve  few  practical 
purposes  of  any  kind.  In  some  of  their  decisions,  it  was  said  that  the 
concurrent  jurisdiction  was  legislative  only  and  that  the  courts  of  the 
states  on  the  north  side  had  no  jurisdiction  at  all.  The  arguments  were 
elaborate  and  the  reasons  various.  The  later  cases  cited  the  constitutions 
of  Illinois  of  18 18,  1848  and  1870,  and  called  attention  to  the  differ- 
ence in  the  language  of  the  first  from  that  in  the  other  two.  The  result, 
however,  was  the  same  in  almost  all  cases;  and  it  was  not  until  1896 
that  a  case  arose  which  reached  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States 
in  1903,  and  which  resulted  in  a  decision  of  that  court  February  23, 
1904,  which  practically  annulled  one  or  two  score  of  state  cases  on  the 
subject.    It  is  the  case  of  Wedding  vs.  Meyler,  ig2  U.  S.  573.  Wedding, 


THE  OHIO  AND  MISSISSIPPI  RIVERS  119 

of  Indiana,  sued  Meyler,  of  Kentucky,  in  the  Vanderburg  County 
superior  court,  May  27,  1896,  and  the  summons  was  served  on  Meyler 
on  a  steamboat  on  the  Ohio  and  beyond  low-water  mark  on  the  Indiana 
side  and  within  the  county  of  Henderson  in  the  state  of  Kentucky.  The 
Indiana  court  sustained  the  service  and  rendered  judgment  against 
Meyler;  and  Wedding  having  sued  Meyler  on  this  judgment  in  the 
circuit  court  of  Warren  County,  Kentucky,  said  court  sustained  the 
Indiana  judgment  and  rendered  judgment  against  Meyler,  and  the 
latter  appealed  to  the  court  of  appeals  of  Kentucky,  which  reversed 
the  circuit  court.  Wedding,  thereupon,  appealed  from  this  judgment 
of  the  court  of  appeals  to  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  which 
reversed  the  judgment  of  the  court  of  appeals  and  sustained  the  rulings 
of  the  said  superior  and  circuit  courts.  The  decision  of  the  Federal 
supreme  court  was  without  dissent.  Judges  Hobson  and  Burnham  of 
the  court  of  appeals  dissented  from  the  other  five  members  of  that 
court.  The  supreme  court,  near  the  conclusion  of  the  opinion,  quotes 
and  adopts  Chief  Justice  Robertson's  definition  of  jurisdiction  as  given 
in  Arnold  vs.  Shields,  5  Dana  (Ky.)  page  18. 

It  is  not  easy,  always,  to  state  the  extent  and  operation  of  a  judicial 
decision ;  but  it  seems  that  if  civil  process  may  be  properly  served  on 
the  Ohio  River  and  beyond  low-water  mark  fifty  or  one  hundred  feet 
and  within  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  a  Kentucky  or  West  Virginia 
county,  there  is  little  reason  why  it  may  not  be  served  anywhere  on  the 
river  within  fifty  or  one  hundred  feet  or  less  of  low-water  mark  on 
the  Kentucky  or  West  Virginia  side.  And  if  civil  mesne  and  final 
process  may  be  so  served  and  executed,  why  may  not  criminal  process, 
also?  It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  the  jurisdiction  is  on  the 
river  and  does  not  extend  to  the  bed  of  the  river  or  to  permanent  struc- 
tures attached  thereto.  In  the  briefs  of  counsel  in  this  Federal  case 
are  cited  almost  all  of  the  decisions  of  the  state  and  Federal  courts  on 
this  subject. 

Mr.  Justice  Holmes,  speaking  for  the  Federal  supreme  court,  con- 
cludes his  opinion  as  follows: 

"  But  so  far  as  applicable,  we  adopt  the  statement  of  Chief  Justice 
Robertson  in  Arnold  vs.  Shields,  5  Dana,  18,  22;  30  Am.  Dec.  669,  673: 
'  Jurisdiction,  unqualified,  being,  as  it  is,  the  sovereign  authority  to 
make,  decide  on,  and  execute  laws,  a  concurrence  of  jurisdiction,  there- 
fore, must  entitle  Indiana  to  as  much  power — legislative,  judicial,  and 
executive — as  that  possessed  by  Kentucky  over  so  much  of  the  Ohio 
river  as  flows  between  them.' 

"  The  conveniences  and  inconveniences  of  concurrent  jurisdiction 
both  are  obvious,  and  do  not  need  to  be  stated.  We  have  nothing  to  do 
with  them  when  the  law  making  power  has  spoken.  To  avoid  misun- 
derstandings, it  may  be  well  to  add  that  the  concurrent  jurisdiction 
given  is  jurisdiction  '  on  '  the  river,  and  does  not  extend  to  permanent 
structures  attached  to  the  river  bed  and  within  the  boundary  of  one  or 
the  other  state.  Therefore,  such  cases  as  Mississippi  &  M.  R.  Co.  vs. 
Ward,  2  Black,  485,  17  L.  Ed.  311,  do  not  apply.  State  v.  Mullin,  35 
Iowa,  199,  206,  207. 


^  CHAPTER  XV 

THE    HEALTH    OF    THE    CITY 

LIKE  many  other  things  which  were  once  true  of  the  city  but 
which  have  largely  passed  away,  the  health  of  the  place,  in  early 
times,  was  by  no  means  good ;  but  it  was  never  as  bad  as  was  rep- 
resented. The  ground  was  low  and  the  point  for  six  or  eight  miles  up  the 
Ohio  River  and  twelve  to  fifteen  up  the  Mississippi  was  covered  with  a 
very  dense  growth  of  trees  of  all  sizes  and  kinds  known  to  this  section  of 
the  country.  The  undergrowth  was  almost  impenetrable,  so  much  so  that 
one  wonders  how  Arthur  Henrie  and  his  assistants  worked  their  way 
over  the  point  in  1807  when  they  made  the  first  government  survey 
and  plat  of  the  township.  Such  was  the  growth  upon  this  tongue  of 
land  that  the  hot  sun  of  the  summer  was  needed  to  dry  up  effectually 
the  fallen  rain  water  and  that  which  might  be  left  by  the  receding  rivers. 
But  this  was  not  so  extreme  as  has  been  generally  supposed.  The 
nature  of  the  ground  was  such  that  when  the  rivers  reached  their  lower 
stages,  the  surface  water  sank  rapidly  through  the  sandy  soil  and  soon 
reached  the  level  of  the  water  in  the  rivers.  Just  as  the  high  rivers 
force  the  subterranean  waters  through  the  porous  soil  and  up  to  the 
surface,  so  the  falling  rivers  no  longer  sustain  the  surface  water  in 
place  but  allow  it  to  pass  back  freely  the  way  it  came.  The  rain  water 
follows  in  the  same  way.  To  this  is  due  in  large  part  the  healthfulness 
of  the  city  now.  The  sandy  and  gravelly  nature  of  the  whole  site  of 
the  city,  for  hundreds  of  feet  in  depth,  permits  the  easy  passage  of  the 
water  through  the  ground  and  to  the  level  of  the  river  waters,  and  in 
this  way  the  unhealthful  accumulations  on  the  surface  are  dissolved  and 
to  a  great  extent  carried  away.  In  very  wet  seasons  or  years,  the  water 
may  have  stood  here  and  there  possibly  for  the  whole  season  or  year; 
but  Cairo  was  never  a  marsh  or  anything  like  one.  The  pervious 
nature  of  the  ground  would  not  admit  of  it.  But  there  were  and  are 
low  grounds  and  some  marshy  lakes  in  Missouri  and  Kentucky,  across 
the  two  rivers,  and  these  with  the  dense  growth  upon  the  point  could 
not  fail  to  cause  ill  health  to  a  greater  or  less  degree;  but  when  the 
Cairo  proprietors  began  cutting  out  lanes  and  roads  through  the  woods 
for  streets  through  which  a  free  circulation  of  air  was  obtained  across 
and  along  the  neck  of  land  between  the  rivers,  the  health  of  the  place 
became  very  much  improved.  Col.  Taylor,  who  came  here  in  April, 
1 85 1,  and  remained  here  until  his  death  in  1896,  frequently  spoke  of 
this  matter  as  the  reason  for  the  improved  health  of  the  town. 

When  the  troops  came  here  in   1861,  there  was  still  considerable 
standing  timber  and  under-growth ;  but  contrary  to  the  expectations  of 

120 


THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 121 

the  whole  army  force  here,  the  soldiers  were  found  to  have  no  cause 
to  complain  further  than  as  to  the  ordinary  risks  incident  to  soldier 
life.  The  troops  in  Cairo  had  better  health  than  those  on  the  higher 
grounds  near  the  rivers,  north  and  south  of  Cairo. 

Then,  too,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  two  rivers  are  great 
bodies  and  streams  of  water  of  very  different  temperatures.  The  Missis- 
sippi up  to  the  very  point  of  junction  often  freezes  over  hard  and  solid, 
but  the  Ohio  never.  The  water  in  the  one  comes  from  the  distant 
north  while  that  in  the  other  comes  largely  from  the  south.  The 
Tennessee  is  the  largest  of  the  Ohio's  tributaries  and  comes  out  of 
north  Alabama,  crosses  Tennessee  and,  flowing  for  a  short  distance 
through  Kentucky,  empties  into  the  Ohio  at  Paducah,  forty  miles  on 
an  east  and  west  line  from  Cairo.  The  winds  are  uniformly  from  the 
southwest  to  the  northeast,  and  crossing  the  Mississippi  and  then  the 
Ohio  must  in  the  nature  of  things  carry  away  from  the  city  exhalations 
which  Would  otherwise,  at  least  to  some  extent,  produce  ill  health. 

But  however  we  may  reason  about  the  matter,  the  writer  can  say 
that  he  has  now  resided  in  the  city  forty  years,  and  that  having  before 
resided  many  years  in  one  of  the  best  counties  of  central  Illinois,  he  is 
strongly  of  the  belief  that  there  is  not  anjru^here  in  the  state  a  more 
healthful  place  or  city  than  the  city  of  Cairo.  He  would  not,  however, 
'have  any  one  believe  that  the  climate  here  is  all  that  could  be 
desired.  For  a  northern  town,  Cairo  is  far  south,  as  far  as  Richmond 
and  Norfolk.  The  summers  begin  early  and  end  late,  making  the  long 
or  hot  season  a  long  one  comparatively.  There  is,  also,  malaria  here, 
quite  sufficient  for  home  consumption.  One  feels  less  active  here  and 
must  take  things  somewhat  more  moderately  than  further  north.  In 
a  word  or  two,  the  geography  and  topography  of  the  place  make  it  more 
of  a  southern  than  a  northern  town.  It  must  be  added,  however,  that 
so  far  as  the  diseases  of  typhoid  fever,  pneumonia,  and  consumption  are 
concerned,  there  is  not  one  case  here  to  four  or  five  in  central  Illinois, 
supposedly  a  healthful  part  of  the  state. 

In  March,  1856,  the  Trustees  published  and  circulated  extensively 
an  interesting  pamphlet  of  twenty  pages  of  large  letter  sheet  size, 
printed  on  blue  paper,  a  copy  of  which  was  sent  to  me  from  Cleveland. 
Besides  its  two  pages  of  introduction,  it  contains  eleven  different  head- 
ings as  follows: 

( 1 )  Railroad  facilities  possessed  by  Cairo. 

(2)  The  advantages  possessed  by  Cairo  by  her  river  communication 
with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

(3)  Cairo  as  a  commercial  city. 

(4)  Identification  of  the  interests  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
with  those  of  Cairo. 

(5)  Immunit)^  of  Cairo  from  inundation. 

(6)  Drainage  of  Cairo. 

(7)  Health  of  Cairo. 

(8)  Supply  and  quality  of  water  at  Cairo. 


122 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

(9)     Abundance  of  building  materials  at  Cairo. 
(10)      Cairo  as  she  is. 
(11)      The  future  of  Cairo. 

That  part  of  the  pamphlet  relating  to  the  health  of  Cairo  is  as  follows : 

Health  of  Cairo. — So  much  has  been  written  on  the  unhealthiness  of  the 
Western  cities;  so  many  terrible  pictures  have  been  painted  of  the  fever-stricken 
and  ague-suffering  inhabitants;  so  many  fancy  sketches  have  been  drawn  of  the 
fearful  mortality  which  has  attended  the  pioneers  of  civilization  on  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi, — that  truth  has  a  hard  battle  with  misrepresentation  and 
prejudice  in  her  efforts  to  establish  the  facts.  Yet  we  can  scarcely  wonder  at 
this,  when  we  see  a  writer  like  Charles  Dickens,  who,  in  his  descriptions  of  the 
springs  which  actuate  the  lower  strata  of  English  society,  is  unequaled  and  un- 
approachable,— deliberately,  to  gain  the  applause  of  the  bigoted  portion  of  his 
countrymen,  misapply  his  talents  by  seeking  to  vilify  and  abuse  our  rising  cities 
of  the  West.  From  the  personal  testimony  of  all  who  have  resided  there,  and 
who,  by  their  connection  with  the  city,  are  the  best  qualified  to  judge,  we  un- 
hesitatingly assert  that  not  only  is  this  point  one  of  the  healthiest  in  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  but  that  Cairo  is  as  healthy  as  NeAV  York.  The  salubrity  of 
the  climate  will  compare  favorably  with  the  healthiest  cities  of  the  West.  This 
is  proved  by  the  testimony  of  residents,  whose  families  present  a  picture  of 
robust  health,  not  exceeded  by  the  inhabitants  of  any  other  district,  West  or  East; 
and  a  short  acquaintance  with  the  locality  will  not  fail  to  satisfy  every  one  of 
the  fact. 

Dr.  James  C.  Cummings,  now  of  Portland,  Maine,  who  resided  in  Cairo  for 
some  years,  practicing  there  as  a  physician,  says, —  "Yellow  fever  and  consump- 
tion are  unknown.  There  is  not  a  swamp  within  miles  of  the  city,  and  the  rivers 
being  a  mile  or  more  in  width,  Cairo  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the  miasma  of 
the  Kentucky  or  Missouri  shores.  There  is,  generally,  a  refreshing  breeze  from 
one  river  to  the  other.  The  climate  is  delightful.  The  summers  are  long  and 
by  no  means  extremely  hot.  The  atmosphere  is  generally  clear,  and  there  are 
usuall}'  refreshing  breezes.  The  winters  are  short  and  mild;  snow  is  seldom 
seen  and  lies  but  a  short  time.  The  water  is  excellent.  Shippers  say  it  is  the 
best  in  the  world.  After  a  heavy  rain  of  days  even,  twenty-four  hours  of  clear 
weather  will  generally  make  the  walking  good  in  any  direction." 

Since  the  departure  of  Dr.  Cummings,  the  Trustees  have  cut  down  the  timber 
on  the  flats,  from  river  to  river,  for  a  considerable  space,  and  this  permits  of 
the  free  circulation  of  air,  and  has  driven  away  the  miasma,  which  might  have 
produced  chills  and  fever.  Last  summer,  when  there  was  so  much  cholera  in 
the  other  towns  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  there  was  not  one  case  of  it  among 
the  inhabitants  of  Cairo.  In  fact,  Cairo  is  far  enough  north  to  avoid  the  dis- 
comforts and  fevers  of  a  southern  climate;  and  far  enough  south  to  avoid  the 
frost,  which,  during  a  portion  of  each  winter,  binds  in  fetters  the  giant  streams 
of  the  great  West.  The  salubrity  and  healthiness  of  Cairo  is  officially  recognized 
by  the  United  States  Government,  and  steps  are  now  taking  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  U.  S.  Marine  Hospital  at  this  point,  to  humanely  meet  and  protect 
diseased  emigrants,  and  sailors  navigating  the  Mississippi  from  below,  during 
the  summer  season. 

The  Yellow  Fever:  The  ten  days  beginning  with  July  9,  1878, 
were  probably  the  hottest  ten  successive  days  in  the  history  of  the  city. 
During  that  time  the  writer  was  kept  at  home  by  an  attack  of  illness 
and  was  treated  by  Dr.  W.  R.  Smith,  whom  most  of  us  remember  as 
one  of  our  most  prominent  citizens  and  physicians.  On  entering  the 
room  one  of  those  days  and  while  wiping  the  perspiration  from  his  face, 
he  said,  "  John,  we  are  likely  to  have  yellow  fever  in  the  south  within 
a  month  or  two."     The  doctor's  prophecy  came  true.     The  first  case 


THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 123 

occurred  in  the  south  about  the  first  of  August.  It  moved  on  northward 
and  soon  appeared  at  Natchez,  Vicksburg,  Memphis,  and  Hickman,  and 
reached  Cairo  September  12th.  It  is  said  by  many  persons  that  Mr. 
Oberly,  the  father  of  the  Hon.  John  H.  Oberly,  died  of  the  fever  a  few 
days  before  the  12th.  On  the  12th  there  were  tvvo  deaths;  one  of  them 
Mr.  Thomas  Nally,  editor  of  the  Bulletin,  and  the  other  Mr.  Isaac 
Mulkey,  a  son  of  Judge  John  H.  Mulkey,  and  also  of  the  Bulletin 
ofBce.  Those  deaths  caused  a  panic  in  the  city,  and  the  afternoon  and 
evening  of  that  day  witnessed  the  departure  of  hundreds  of  people  from 
the  city.  For  some  three  or  four  weeks  prior  to  that  time  there  had 
existed  in  the  city  an  unseemly  controversy  as  to  whether  the  fever  would 
probably  reach  Cairo  or  not.  Were  one  to  turn  to  the  files  of  the 
Bulletin  and  the  Cairo  Evening  Sun  for  the  last  half  of  August  and  the 
first  twelve  days  of  September  of  that  year,  he  would  see  what  a  state 
of  feeling  existed  in  the  city;  the  one  party  insisting  that  there  was 
little  or  no  danger  and  the  other  that  there  was  very  great  danger  and 
that  ever>-  possible  effort  should  be  put  forth  to  keep  the  dreaded  disease 
out  of  the  city.  The  Bulletin  led  off  as  was  its  custom  and  criticised 
with  unnecessary  severity  every  one  who  chose  to  differ  with  it.  It 
was  strongly  supported  by  a  few  of  our  prominent  citizens  who  felt 
that  it  was  their  duty  to  maintain  our  supposed  immunitj^  I  can  best 
describe  that  peculiar  state  of  things  preceding  September  12th  by 
saying  that  it  was  not  quite  as  bad  as  the  yellow  fever  itself.  I  had 
been  attending  court  at  Jonesboro  and  was  told  by  the  conductor,  on 
offering  to  go  aboard  the  train  at  Jonesboro  to  come  home,  that  he 
could  not  take  me  on  account  of  the  quarantine  at  Cairo.  I  prevailed 
upon  him  and  came,  and  on  reaching  the  northern  part  of  the  city  I 
saw  the  levees  patrolled  by  armed  guards.  One  or  two  of  them  went 
through  the  train  to  ascertain  who  might  and  who  might  not  be  per- 
mitted to  go  on  into  the  cit>'.  When  I  reached  the  city,  I  was  sur- 
prised beyond  measure  to  see  the  state  of  things  prevailing.  On  every 
hand  were  seen  all  kinds  of  vehicles  carr\'ing  trunks  and  ever}'  other 
description  of  baggage  to  the  railroad  stations.  They  were  driven,  some 
of  them,  almost  at  furious  rates  of  speed.  In  a  word,  there  was  a  panic, 
which  I  need  not  attempt  further  to  describe.  I  left  on  the  same 
Illinois  Central  train  about  eight  o'clock  that  evening,  on  which  were 
Mr.  Oberly  and  hundreds  of  other  citizens  of  the  town.  I  remained 
away  until  the  2d  day  of  October,  when  I  returned  home,  having  seen 
in  the  Cairo  Evening  Sun,  of  September  24th,  the  following  notice: 

"  The  Cairo  public  schools  will  open  on  Monday,  September  30th, 
under  the  superintendency  of  Prof.  G.  G.  Alvord.  Mr.  F.  Korsmeyer, 
clerk  of  the  Board  of  Education,  furnishes  us  \\ath  the  following  list 
of  persons  who  are  to  teach  this  coming  year.  Misses  A.  Rogers,  K.  A. 
Thompson,  N.  J.  McKee,  L.  M.  Walbridge,  E.  F.  Armstrong,  Henri- 
etta Foss,  E.  Kratzinger,  Mary  Hogan,  S.  N.  French,  H.  W.  French, 
Mary  Burnham,  and  Mrs.  P.  A.  Taylor;  Mr.  Jesse  Newsome,  Miss 
Newsome,  Miss  Sarah  Rose,  Miss  Ida  Christ}'  and  James  Nott.  The 
last  five  are  the  names  of  the  colored  teachers."    The  schools  opened  at 


124 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

the  time  announced,  but  were  discontinued  October  4th.  On  Sunday 
and  Monday,  October  6th  and  7th,  there  were  six  deaths,  among  them 
Miss  Maroe  Powers,  one  of  the  public  school  teachers.  These  deaths  oc- 
casioned another  exodus,  not  quite  so  panicky  nor  quite  so  large;  and  it 
was  not  until  the  latter  part  of  October  that  the  people  began  returning 
home,  and  it  was  not  until  far  into  November  that  all  had  gotten  back. 

The  Bulletin  had  suspended  publication  with  its  issue  of  September 
1 2th,  and  did  not  resume  publication  until  the  first  day  of  November. 
Mr.  D.  L.  Davis,  the  editor  of  the  Cairo  Evening  Sun,  and  his  family 
had  also  gone  from  the  city,  and  had  left  Mr.  Walter  F.  McKee  in 
charge  of  the  paper.  Walter,  for  most  of  us  were  accustomed  to 
address  him  by  that  name,  remained  at  his  post  and  gave  the  city  a 
very  faithful  account  of  what  was  daily  taking  place.  As  bad  as 
the  news  often  was  which  it  contained,  the  residents  were  eager  for 
its  appearance  in  the  evening,  and  most  of  them  forwarded  copies  to 
their  friends  who  had  gone  from  town  and  who  were  anxious  to  know 
the  state  of  things  at  home.  Mr.  Davis  removed  from  Cairo  to 
Chicago  a  few  years  afterwards,  and  kindly  handed  to  me  all  the  num- 
bers of  the  "  Sun  "  which  covered  that  yellow  fever  period.  Of  the 
one  hundred  or  more  cases  there  were  about  fifty  deaths.  The  names  of 
those  who  died  are  as  follows: 

Thomas  Nally,  Isaac  Mulkey,  John  Crofton,  John  Bloom  (Blohim), 
Mr.  Reice,  Richard  Nason,  Mrs.  R.  Nason,  Miss  Nason,  Mr.  Clark, 
Michael  Dugan,  Miss  Dugan,  Mrs.  P.  Corcoran,  John  Petry,  Mrs. 
John  Petry,  Miss  Louise  Petry,  Patrick  O'Laughlin,  child  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Stapleton,  child  of  John  Oakley,  child  of  J.  J.  Balfry,  Mrs.  J. 
J.  Balfry,  Robert  Hart,  Thomas  Cook,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jerry  Murphy, 
and  child,  Thomas  Healy,  Miss  Kate  Healy,  Miss  Maroe  Powers,  Mrs. 
Fitzpatrick,  Huston  Dickey,  W.  H.  Wilcox,  D.  William  Hamlin,  Phillip 
K.  Howard,  Mrs.  Shurburn,  John  McEwen,  Dr.  Roswell  Waldo,  Tim- 
othy Conners,  Anthony  McTigue,  John  Warren  (colored),  Annie 
Davis,  Clara  Keno,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Stoner,  Mary  A.  Sampson,  John 
Keho,  Mrs.  Stephens,  Samuel  Nealy,  John  Stanton,  Miss  Sullivan,  Miss 
Anthony,  John  Sullivan,  and  Miss  Mary  Sweney.  The  seven  last 
names  were  not  found  in  the  Dailj''  Evening  Sun  from  September  ist 
to  November  12th,  but  it  is  said  the  whole  list  as  above  given  was  made 
up  by  Drs.  William  R.  Smith,  J.  J.  Gordon  and  Mr.  Alonzo  Daniels. 

I  give  here  the  number  of  cases  and  the  number  of  deaths  in  a  few 
of  the  southern  cities  during  the  months  of  August,  September,  October 
and  November ;  for  the  disease  prevailed  in  the  south  far  into  November. 
At  Baton  Rouge,  number  of  cases  2,716,  deatlis  201  ;  Greenville,  Miss., 
cases,  1,137,  deaths  387;  Grenada,  Miss.,  cases  1,468,  deaths  367; 
Holly  Springs,  Miss.,  cases  1,240,  deaths  346;  Memphis,  cases  17,600, 
deaths  5,150,  ratio  of  mortality  to  cases,  I  in  3.3;  Hickman,  Kentucky, 
cases  454,  deaths  180;  Gallopolis,  Ohio,  above  Cincinnati,  population 
3,700,  cases  51,  deaths  31. 

The  above  statistics  are  taken  from  the  history  of  the  "  Yellow  Fever 
Epidemic  of  1878  in  Memphis,"  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Keating.     It  is  a  volume 


THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY  125 

of  454  pages  and  contains  a  full  history  of  yellow  fever,  beginning  as 
far  back  as  the  year  1600.  It  says  that  on  the  14th  of  August  in  that  city, 
the  panic  among  its  citizens  first  began,  and  that  the  last  week  of  that 
month  the  panic  was  over  and  that  all  had  left  who  could,  and  that 
all  were  in  camp  who  would  go;  and  further,  that  on  the  14th  day  of 
September,  the  second  day  after  the  fever  reached  Cairo,  the  heaviest 
mortality  occurred.  It  gives  the  names  of  the  persons  who  died  in 
Memphis  and  other  cities  and  places  in  Tennessee.  Necessarily  many 
errors  would  occur  in  the  collection  of  such  information.  For  instance, 
the  population  of  Cairo  is  given  as  6,300,  the  number  of  cases  43,  the 
number  of  deaths  32.  This  is  a  higher  rate  of  mortality  than  any 
occurring  at  any  of  the  other  seventy-five  to  a  hundred  places  mentioned. 
The  fact  is  just  as  above  given.  There  were  about  one  hundred  cases 
and  about  fifty  deaths.  This  book  gives  a  full  account  of  the  tow-boat 
John  D.  Porter,  which  it  calls  a  floating  charnel  house,  all  the  way  from 
New  Orleans  to  Gallopolis  or  Pittsburg.  A  number  of  our  citizens 
will  remember  when  it  passed  Cairo. 


I  have  devoted  these  few  pages  to  the  epidemic  of  the  fever  because 
it  was  an  era  in  the  city's  histor}^  One  third  of  the  people  left  the  city. 
Many  remained  who  could  and  should  have  gone.  Their  reasons  for 
remaining  were  various;  and  sometimes  they  could  give  none  at  all. 
It  was  a  simple  disinclination  to  leave  home.  There  was  a  continuing 
hope  that  the  danger  would  soon  pass,  but  it  persisted  instead.  To 
some  it  was  a  question  of  means;  for  to  go  and  remain  away  even  for 
a  short  time  required  money  for  the  trip  and  board.  Many  had  no 
friends  or  relatives  to  whom  they  could  go.  Few  persons  in  the  sur- 
rounding country  desired  to  see  any  one  from  Cairo.  Many  whole 
families  would  not  go  because  they  could  not  decide  who  should  remain, 
and  they  feared  leaving  their  homes  unprotected.  Business  was  sus- 
pended; only  just  enough  done  as  seemed  actually  necessary  for  the 
people  at  home.  The  daj^s  were  unusually  bright,  in  sharp  contrast 
with  the  doubly  dark  and  silent  nights.  Part  of  the  time  persons  could 
not  be  abroad  at  night  without  passes  of  some  kind  from  the  author- 
ities. In  a  word,  ever3^thing  spoke  plainly  of  the  reign  of  pestilential 
disease.  The  city  government  of  course  went  on.  It  had  to.  Mayor 
Winter  was  equal  to  the  occasion,  and  to  be  equal  to  such  an  occasion 
seems  capability  for  almost  anything,  but  he  seemed  made  for  it  as  for 
some  special  occasion.  Jack,  like  so  many  public  men  of  the  country, 
liked  to  do  things  in  a  kind  of  showy  \A-ay,  not  exactly  spectacularly, 
but  that  word  expresses  something  of  the  idea.  Jack  had  been  so  har- 
rowed by  the  Bulletin  and  others  about  the  fever,  that  he  seemed 
somehow  to  be  glad  that  they  and  not  he  had  been  proven  false  prophets ; 
and  when  the  fever  came  he  met  it  with  an  undaunted  face.  He  could 
not  rescue  its  victims;  but  he  and  the  few  trusty  men  he  had  buried 
them  in  the  shortest  possible  time  and  yet  with  all  the  care  and  ceremony 
of  which  the  deadly  situation  would  admit.     But  I  must  not  go  on 


126 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

further  or  attempt  to  describe  the  pestilence  that  walked  in  darkness 
or  the  destruction  that  wasted  at  noonday. 

Jack  Winter  was  no  better  than  many  of  the  rest  of  us ;  but  if  at  the 
end  of  all  things  there  is  a  balancing  of  accounts  for  every  man,  Jack's 
account  will  have  opposite  September  and  October,  1878,  a  very  large 
credit.  Of  the  rather  few  persons  on  whom  he  relied  for  attention  to 
families  in  need  and  for  other  aid  to  the  city  authorities,  I  may  mention 
Mr.  William  H.  Schutter.  I  do  so  because  of  my  personal  knowledge 
of  much  of  his  work.  Of  the  many  persons  who  remained  out  of  a 
sense  of  duty  to  those  who  could  not  go  or  did  not  choose  to  go,  I  may 
mention  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Y.  George,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
Father  Zabel,  of  St.  Joseph's  Catholic  Church,  of  whose  constant  care 
and  devotion  to  the  stricken  families  of  the  town  it  would  be  impossible 
to  say  too  much.  Doctor  Roswell  Waldo,  of  the  Marine  Hospital, 
gave  up  his  life  in  the  work  he  did,  which  extended  alike  to  all  persons 
needing  his  services.  He  died  at  St.  Mary's  Infirmary  October  i8th, 
after  a  long  illness  which  kept  the  community  alternating  between 
hope  and  fear  for  his  life.  The  Sisters  of  St.  Mary's  Infirmary  did 
everything  in  their  power,  as  they  always  do.  It  may  not  be  so,  but  it 
sometimes  seems  that  they  take  pleasure  in  such  times  as  those  were. 
They  look  upon  every  opportunity  for  doing  good  as  a  blessing  to  them- 
selves. Did  not  this  happiness  come  to  them,  how  could  they  devote  their 
lives  to  such  work  ? 

The  Sun  of  Monday,  November  25,  1878,  gives  an  account  of  the 
presentation  to  Dr.  J.  J.  Gordon  of  a  gold  medal  in  recognition  of  his 
very  faithful  services  during  the  prevalence  of  the  fever.  The  presen- 
tation took  place  at  the  Arlington  House,  afterward  The  Illinois,  and 
now  The  Marion.  It  gives  the  names  of  the  thirty-five  donors,  and 
speaks  of  Mayor  Winter,  the  Rev.  Mr.  George,  and  other  persons 
present. 

Many  of  the  older  residents  of  the  city  remember  that  during  the 
yellow  fever  epidemic  that  prevailed  in  many  cities  of  the  south  in 
September  and  October,  1873,  we  had  six  or  seven  deaths  here  in 
Cairo,  which  were  probably  the  result  of  that  disease.  Keating  says 
there  were  seventeen  deaths  here  from  yellow  fever.  This  is  another 
error  in  what  seems  to  be  a  valuable  publication.  Among  those  who 
died  were  Christian  Pitcher,  James  C.  Arrick,  James  Hughes,  Francis 
M.  Hundley,  Mr.  Powers,  and  Mr.  Fielding.  Almost  all  of  the  persons 
who  died  were  employed  upon  some  one  of  the  wharf  boats,  or  were  in 
some  way  engaged  in  work  on  or  near  the  river.  At  that  time,  as  well 
as  in  1878,  there  was  quite  a  controversy  as  to  whether  the  disease  was 
yellow  fever.  The  funeral  of  Hundley  was  held  at  the  Methodist  Church 
and  quite  a  large  number  of  persons  attended  the  same.  The  funeral 
of  young  Arrick,  who  died  September  16,  1873,  was  held  at  the  residence 
of  his  father,  Mr.  A.  A.  Arrick,  on  20th  Street,  and  a  large  number  of 
persons  attended  the  same  and  went  to  the  burial,  which  was  at  Beech 
Grove.  It  seems,  however,  that  by  the  last  of  September  the  Bulletin 
came  finally  to  the  conclusion  that  the  disease  was  yellow  fever. 


THE  HEALTH  OF  THE  CITY 127 

It  is  supposed  that  the  yellow  fever  has  been  banished  from  the  United 
States,  if  not  also  from  Cuba.  If  this  claim  is  well  founded,  or  reason- 
ably well  supported,  why  may  we  not  also  hope  for  the  banishment  of 
other  diseases?  If  one  so  deadly  as  this  one  which  has  penetrated  even 
into  the  heart  of  the  country  may  be  permanently  expelled,  how  is  it  that 
the  expulsion  or  prevention  may  not  sooner  or  later  extend  to  other 
diseases — others  prevailing  almost  all  the  time  and  almost  everywhere  ? 


CHAPTER  XVI 

CAIRO  DURING  THE  WAR 

1861-1865 

IT  is  quite  impossible  to  say  much  concerning  Cairo  during  this  period 
of  four  years  without  also  saying  much  about  the  war.     Those  years, 

however,  were  so  full  of  events  relating  directly  to  the  city  as  to 
require  a  separate  if  not  a  somewhat  full  account. 

The  census  of  the  year  i860,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  years  in  the 
country's  history,  shows  the  population  of  Cairo  to  have  been  2,188,  of 
whom  55  were  negroes.  It  had  no  doubt  increased  a  few  hundred  and 
probably  had  reached  2,500  in  the  month  of  April,  1861.  Its  population 
in  1870  was  but  6,267.  At  the  very  opening  of  the  war,  it  was  seen  that 
Cairo  was  to  become  one  of  the  most  important  points  on  the  long  line 
of  division  between  the  revolting  and  the  adhering  states.  The  two 
great  arteries  of  commerce  united  here  and  took  their  course  southward 
through  almost  the  heart  of  the  then  hostile  country.  Charlevoix, 
Governor  Hamilton,  of  Canada,  General  George  Rogers  Clark  and  many 
others  had  spoken  of  the  importance  of  the  position  as  a  means  of  defense 
against  foreign  foes;  but  few,  if  any,  had  ever  spoken  or  thought  of  its 
strategic  advantages  in  case  of  civil  or  domestic  war.  It  is  true,  the 
Mississippi  River  had  now  and  then  been  cited  as  a  kind  of  bond  of  union 
between  the  states,  but  such  references  were  little  more  than  mere  figures 
of  speech,  and  when  it  became  apparent  that  we  were  likely  to  have  a 
civil  war,  the  country  turned  at  once  to  a  careful  study  of  the  geographi- 
cal features  of  the  border  states.  Illinois  extends  far  down  into  the 
Southern  country  and  Cairo  was  and  is  about  on  a  line  with  the 
south  line  of  Kansas,  the  old  well-known  Missouri  compromise  line 
of  36-30,  which  was -less  than  forty  miles  north  of  the  south  line  of  Vir- 
ginia and  Kentucky.  The  tvvo  slave  states  of  Virginia  and  Missouri 
extended  north  of  Cairo  200  and  300  miles,  respectively,  and  three- 
fourths  of  the  state  of  Kentucky  lay  north  of  it.  But  its  chief  importance 
lay  in  its  position  at  the  junction  of  the  two  great  rivers,  from  which  it 
was  supposed  large  control  might  be  obtained  and  exercised  over  the 
united  streams  flowing  into  the  Gulf  and  almost  equally  dividing  the 
country  in  revolt. 

At  the  general  election  November  6,  i860,  Lincoln  received  76  votes  in  Cairo, 
and  106  in  the  whole  county;  Douglas  347  in  the  city  and  684  in  the  county; 
Bell  91  in  the  city  and  178  in  the  county,  and  Breckinridge  73  in  the  city  and  79 
in  the  county.  In  Union  County,  Lincoln's  vote  was  157,  Douglas'  996,  Bell's 
58,  and  Breckinridge's  819.  In  Pulaski,  Lincoln  220,  Douglas  550,  Bell  45,  and 
Breckinridge  9.  In  Johnson,  Lincoln  40,  Douglas  1,563,  Bell  o,  and  Breckinridge 
9.    In  Pope,  Lincoln  127,  Douglas  1,202,  Bell  83,  and  Breckinridge  i.     In  Jackson, 

128 


Generals  Grant  and  McClernand.  IsOl 


CAIRO  DURING  THE  WAR,  1861-1865 129 

Lincoln  315,  Douglas  1,556,  Bell  147,  and  Breckinridge  29.  In  Williamson, 
Lincoln  173,  Douglas  1,835,  Bell  166,  and  Breckinridge  40.  In  Massac,  Lincoln 
121,  Douglas  873,  Bell  84,  and  Breckinridge  o.  In  Hardin,  Lincoln  107,  Doug- 
las 499,  Bell  62,  and  Breckinridge  o.  In  Saline,  Lincoln  100,  Douglas  1,338, 
Bell  113,  and  Breckinridge  15;  and  in  Perry,  Lincoln  649,  Douglas  1,101,  Bell 
138,   and  Breckinridge   i. 

In  the  twenty-seven  counties  lying  along  the  line  and  south  of  the  railroad 
from  East  St.  Louis  to  Vincennes,  the  whole  vote  for  the  four  candidates  was 
about  60,000,  of  which  Lincoln  received  a  little  less  than  one-third.  The  only 
counties  in  which  he  received  more  votes  than  any  other  candidate  were  Ed- 
wards, Madison,  and  St,  Clair,  Breckinridge's  vote  in  Union  County  of  819  was 
about  three  times  as  great  as  his  vote  in  all  the  other  twenty-six  counties.  In 
Edwards,  Hamilton,  Hardin,  Lawrence,  Monroe,  Massac  and  Washington,  he 
did  not  receive  even  one  vote. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  people  generally,  or  a  large  majority  of 
them,  in  the  southern  and  southeastern  part  of  the  state,  sympathized 
with  the  south  but  not  largely  to  the  extent  of  disunion.  They  had 
voted  for  Douglas,  who  had  in  some  vital  matters  broken  with  the 
southern  leaders,  and  when  he,  seeing  that  war  was  inevitable,  declared 
that  there  was  but  one  thing  for  lo3^al  men  to  do  and  that  was  to  support 
the  government,  these  southern  Illinois  people  laid  aside  their  radical 
democratic  views  and  with  remarkable  unanimity  rallied  to  the  support  of 
the  Union.  The  Illinois  and  other  troops  who  first  came  to  Cairo  in 
April  and  May,  1861,  came  there  with  the  belief  that  its  residents  were, 
with  a  very  few  exceptions,  southern  sympathizers  if  not  rebels  at  heart. 
They  had  known  of  the  town  only  as  a  very  hard  and  a  very  unhealthy 
place,  and  seeing  the  low  site,  the  unfilled  and  muddy  streets,  the  poor 
houses  and  still  poorer  sidewalks,  their  impressions,  which  they  wrote 
back  home,  were  in  substance  much  like  those  of  Dickens,  if  not  always 
expressed  in  the  same  fine  language.  For  a  time  the  officers  and  men 
treated  the  people  as  if  they  were  across  the  Ohio  and  in  Kentucky.  The 
little  city  government,  with  Samuel  Staats  Taylor  at  its  head  as  mayor, 
became  smaller  and  smaller  and  shrank  almost  into  invisibility.  It  seems 
all  the  while,  however,  to  have  maintained  itself  de  jure,  but  as  for  a  de 
facto  existence  it  had  little  if  any  at  all  in  the  midst  of  so  many  captains, 
colonels,  generals,  and  armies  of  soldiers,  equipped  with  muskets  and 
cannon  of  every  description.  In  the  midst  of  arms  the  laws  were  silent. 
But  this  unavoidable  state  of  things  soon  settled  down  into  a  condition 
or  type  of  administration  that  seemed  entirely  natural,  and  to  which  the 
people  of  the  little  city  adjusted  themselves  with  becoming  grace  and 
contentment.  It  was  soon  seen,  because  practically  demonstrated,  that 
to  carry  on  war  much  money  was  needed,  and  Cairo  having  become  a 
great  military  station  and  depot,  money  soon  began  to  make  its  appear- 
ance in  a  way  never  dreamed  of  by  any  one  in  the  town,  nor,  for  that 
matter,  by  any  of  the  somewhat  visionary  founders  of  the  place.  Rents 
went  up  higher  and  higher,  new  but  rather  temporary  buildings  rose  in 
great  numbers  and  in  every  quarter.  Prices  of  all  kinds  of  goods 
advanced  beyond  precedent,  and  it  was  supposed  that  the  future  of  Cairo 
was  now  well  assured.  This  change  in  values  and  advance  in  prices 
were  seen  and  felt  everywhere  in  the  country,  with  the  fall  in  the  face 


I30 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

\'alue  of  all  currency  and  the  constant  and  unlimited  demands  by  the 
war  for  all  products  and  manufactures.  Many  persons  became  com- 
paratively wealthy  who  had  never  expected  to  attain  unto  more  than 
a  comfortable  competency.  It  was  a  time  of  great  prosperity,  and  very 
naturally  sympathy  with  the  south  and  opposition  to  the  war  became 
things  of  the  past.  The  two  newspapers  here  then  received  from  time 
to  time  friendly  suggestions  from  the  generals  commanding  the  'post, 
who  for  the  most  part  were  treated  as  editors  in  chief.  The  city  jail 
or  calaboose  now  and  then  contained  a  soldier,  but  the  coming  morning 
generally  witnessed  his  transfer  to  the  proper  military  authorities,  which 
in  most  cases  was  regarded  as  best  for  all  parties,  especially  the  city  and 
its  people. 

Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon  April  12,  1861,  and  was  surrendered  the 
next  day.  On  the  15th  President  Lincoln  called  for  the  75,000  three 
months'  soldiers  and  on  the  23rd,  the  first  soldiers  of  Illinois  arrived 
in  Cairo.  This  is  what  is  said  about  their  arrival  by  Mr.  A.  H.  Burley, 
of  Chicago,  in  his  account  of'The  Cairo  Expedition." 

April  21  (i86i),  the  expedition  started  from  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
station  (Chicago)  ....  The  military  train  passed  unheralded  the  length 
of  the  State,  and  rolled  into  Cairo  to  the  astonishment  of  all  and  rage  of  many 

of  its  citizens Knowing  the  sentiment  of  the  people,   the  fear  was 

that  they  would  destroy  the  long,  wooden  trestle-work  across  the  Big  Muddy 
River,  which  they  could  have  rendered  impassable,  in  an  hour,  by  burning  it. 
There  was  also  fear  that  the  rebels  would  seize  Cairo,  as  being  a  point  of 
great  strategic  importance.     It  was   afterwards   learned  that  Cairo  would   have 

been   seized    in    forty-eight   hours,    had    its   occupation   been    delayed 

The  first  armed  force  sent  out  in  the  West  was  that  sent  to  Cairo,  and  it  was 
sent  from  Chicago. 

The  following  three  or  four  pages  are  from  the  report  of  Allen  C. 
Fuller,  adjutant  general,  for  1861-1862,  dated  January  ist,  1863,  and 
addressed  to  Governor  Richard  Yates : 

On    the    evening   of   April    15,    1861,    the   following   dispatch    was    received: 

"Washington,  April  15,  1861.  His  Excellency,  Richard  Yates:  Call  made  on 
you  by  to-night's  mail  for  six  regiments  of  militia  for  immediate  service. 
Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War."  ....  Washington,  April  19,  1861. 
Governor  Yates:  As  soon  as  enough  of  your  troops  is  mustered  into  service,  send 
a  Brigadier  General  with  four  regiments  at  or  near  Grand  Cairo.  Simon 
Cameron,  Secretary  of  War. 

The  importance  of  taking  possession  of  this  point  was  felt  by  all,  and  that, 
too,  without  waiting  the  arrival  and  organization  of  a  brigade.  Accordingly, 
the  following  dispatch  was  sent  to  Brigadier  General  Swift,   at  Chicago: 

"Springfield,  April  19,   1861. 
General  Swift: 

As  quick  as  possible  have  as  strong  a  force  as  you  can  raise,  armed  and 
equipped  with  ammunition  and  accoutrements,  and  a  company  of  artillery, 
ready  to  march  at  a  moment's  warning.  A  messenger  will  start  to  Chicago 
to-night.  Richard  Yates, 

Commander-in-chief." 

At  eleven  (11)  o'clock  on  the  twenty-first,  only  forty-eight  hours  after  this 
dispatch  was  delivered.  General  Swift  left  Chicago  with  a  force  of  595  men 
and    four    six    pounder    pieces    of    artillery.      Capt.    Houghtaling's    battery,    of 


CAIRO  DURING  THE  WAR,  1861-1865  131 


Ottawa;  Capt.  Hawley's,  of  Lockport;  Capt.  McAllister's,  of  Plainfield,  and 
Capt.  Can's,  of  Sandwich,  did  not  arrive  in  Chicago  in  time  to  join  the 
expedition,  but  followed  it  the  next  day.  The  expedition  consisted  of  the  fol- 
lowing forces: 

Brig.    Gen.    Swift    and    Staff 14 

Chicago  Light   Artillery,    Capt.   Smith 150 

Ottawa    Light    Artillery,    Capt.    Houghtaling 86 

Lockport  Light   Artillery,    Capt.    Hawley S3 

Plainfield   Light   Artillery,    Capt.    McAllister 72 

Co.  A,   Chicago  Zouaves,   Capt.   Hayden 89 

Co.  B,  Chicago  Zouaves,  Capt.  Clyborne 83 

Capt.   Harding's  Company   80 

Turner  Union  Cadets,  Capt.  Kowald    97 

Lincoln   Rifles,   Capt.   Mihalotzy 66 

Sandwich    Company,    Capt.    Carr 102 

Drum    Corps    17 

Total 908 

Captain  Campbell's  Ottawa  Independent  Artillery,  with  about  twenty  men 
and  two  six-pounder  cannon,   joined  the  force  about  the  28th  of  April." 

This  expedition,  indifferently  armed  with  rifles,  shot-guns,  muskets  and 
carbines,  hastily  gathered  from  stores  and  shops  in  Chicago,  arrived  at  Big 
Muddy  bridge,  on  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  at  five  o'clock,  A.  m.,  April 
22d,  and  detaching  Capt.  Harding's  company  at  that  point,  arrived  at  Cairo 
at  eight  o'clock  the  following  morning.  The  batteries  were  unprovided  with 
shell  or  canister,  but  slugs  hurriedly  prepared — and  some  of  which  were  sub- 
sequently used  at  a  critical  time,  and  with  terrible  effect,  by  one  of  these  bat- 
teries  at   Fort   Donelson — answered  the   purpose  of   all. 

This  command  ^vas  reinforced,  on  the  twenty-fourth,  by  seven  companies 
from  Springfield,  under  the  command  of  Col.  Prentiss,  who  relieved  Gen. 
Swift,  except  as  to  that  portion — who  did  not  desire  to  muster  into  the  United 
States  service — commanded  by  Captains  Harding,  Hayden  and  Clyborne,  who 
returned  to  Springfield  on  the  second  of  May,  to  join  a  regiment  organizing 
here.  These  last  companies,  however,  arrived  too  late,  and  were  mustered 
out  of  the  State  service,  with  allowance  of  one  month's  pay,  under  an  act  of 
the  Legislature  then  in  session. 

The  importance  of  an  early  occupation,  by  our  forces,  of  Cairo,  was  not 
overestimated.  Situated  at  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers, 
and  commanding  the  navigation  of  these  waters,  its  possession  in  a  strategical 
point  of  view,  was  absolutely  necessary  to  our  safety.  The  state  governments 
of  Missouri,  Tennessee,  and  Kentucky  were  controlled  by  disloyal  men.  Gov- 
ernor MagoflSn  had,  on  the  i6th  of  April,  said  to  the  President,  in  reply  to 
his  call  on  that  state  for  troops:  "Your  dispatch  is  received.  In  answer,  I 
say  emphatically,  Kentucky  will  furnish  no  troops  for  the  wicked  purpose  of 
subduing  her  sister  Southern  states."  Governor  Harris,  of  Tennessee,  on  the 
i8th,  in  reply  to  the  call  upon  his  state  said:  "Tennessee  will  not  furnish  a 
single  man  for  coercion;"  and  on  the  same  day  Governor  Jackson,  of  Mis- 
souri, said:  "Requisition  is  illegal,  unconstitutiona,!,  revolutionary,  inhuman, 
diabolical,   and   cannot  be  complied  with." 

By  taking  possession  of  this  point,  at  so  early  a  date,  our  forces  were  enabled 
to  prevent  a  traffic  with  the  rebellious  states  in  contraband  property.  This 
traffic  was  being  actively  carried  on  between  Galena  and  St.  Louis,  with 
towns  on  the  Mississippi  below  Cairo.  The  execution  of  the  following  tele- 
graphic order  was  the   first  arrest  made  to  this  traffic: 

"Springfield,  April  24,  1861. 
Col.  B.  M.  Prentiss,   Cairo: 

The  steamers  C.  E.  Hillman  and  John  D.  Perry  are  about  to  leave  St. 
Louis,  with  arms  and  munitions.  Stop  said  boats,  and  seize  all  the  arms  and 
munitions.  Richard  Yates. 

Commander-in-chief." 


132  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

On  the  evening  of  the  24th  and  morning  of  the  25th,  as  these  boats,  bound 
for  southern  ports,  neared  Cairo,  Col.  Prentiss  directed  Captain  Smith,  of  the 
Chicago  Light  Artillery,  and  Captain  Scott,  of  the  Chicago  Zouaves,  to  board 
them  and  bring  them  to  the  wharf.  His  orders  were  executed,  and  large 
quantities  of  arms  and  munitions  of  war  were  seized  and  confiscated.  Though 
this  seizure  was  not  expressly  authorized  by  the  War  Department,  the  act  of 
seizure  and  subsequent  confiscation  was  approved.  Further  shipments  were  all 
forbidden   soon    after,   as   appears  from  the  following  dispatch: 

"Washington,   May  7,    1861. 
Governor  Yates : 

Circular  has  been  sent  to  collectors  forbidding  shipments  intended  for  ports 
under   insurrectionary   control.      Stop    such    shipments   from    Cairo. 

S.  P.  Chase." 

The  Legislature  having  met  on  the  23d  of  April,  proceeded  at  once  to  pro- 
vide for  the  organization  of  these  six  regiments,  and,  on  the  25th,  an  "act  to 
organize  six  regiments  of  volunteers  from  the  State  of  Illinois  and  provide  for 
the  election  of  regimental  officers  and  a  Brigadier  General,"  was  approved 
and  became  a  law.  Under  the  old  militia  laws  of  the  state  a  company  of 
infantry  consisted  of  one  captain,  one  first,  one  second  and  one  third  lieu- 
tenant, four  sergeants,  four  corporals,  one  drummer,  one  fifer,  and  not  less 
than  forty-six  nor  more  than  one  hundred  and  sixteen  rank  and  file.  A  regi- 
ment consisted  of  one  Colonel,  one,  two  or  three  Majors  (as  the  case  might  be), 
the  senior  to  be  Lieutenant  Colonel,  with  a  regimental  staff,  to  be  appointed 
by  the  Colonel,  to  consist  of  one  Adjutant,  who  should  act  as  regimental  judge 
advocate,  one  Quartermaster,  one  Paymaster,  to  rank  as  Captains,  respectively; 
one  Surgeon  and  Surgeon's  Mate,  one  Sergeant  Major,  one  Quartermaster 
Sergeant,  one  Drum  Major  and  one  Fife  Major. 

The  regulations  of  the  Secretary  of  War  for  organizing  these  regiments 
required  each  regiment  to  consist  of  one  Colonel,  one  Lieutenant  Colonel,  one 
Major,  one  Adjutant  (a  Lieutenant),  one  regimental  Quartermaster  (a  Lieu- 
tenant), one  Surgeon,  one  Surgeon's  Mate,  one  Sergeant  Major,  one  Drum  Major, 
one  Fife  Major,  ten  Captains,  ten  Lieutenants,  ten  Ensigns,  forty  Sergeants, 
forty  Corporals,  ten  drummers,  ten  fifers  and  six  hundred  and  forty  privates. 

The  law  provided  that  "in  token  of  respect  to  the  Illinois  regiments  in 
Mexico,"  these  regiments  should  be  numbered  seven,  eight,  nine,  ten,  eleven, 
and  twelve;  and  that  when  organized  they  should  be  known  as  the  "First 
Brigade  Illinois  Volunteers."  Under  the  provisions  of  this  law  they  were 
organized  and  mustered  into  service  and  ordered  to  duty  as  follows: 

The  Seventh,  Colonel  Cook,  was  mustered  at  Springfield,  April  25th,  and 
ordered  to  Alton  the  27th. 

The  Eighth,  Colonel  Oglesby,  was  mustered  the  same  date,  and  ordered  to 
Cairo  the  27th. 

The  Ninth,  Colonel  Paine,  was  mustered  at  the  same  place,  April  26th, 
and  ordered  to  Cairo  May   ist. 

The  Tenth,  Colonel  Prentiss,  was,  with  a  part  of  his  command,  ordered  to 
Cairo,  April  22d,  and  was,  on  the  29th,  mustered  at  Cairo. 

The  Eleventh,  Colonel  Wallace,  was  mustered  at  Springfield,  April  30th, 
and  ordered  to  Villa  Ridge,  May  5th. 

The  Twelfth,  Colonel  McArthur,  was  mustered  at  Springfield,  May  2d  and 
ordered  to  Cairo,  May  loth. 

As  has  already  been  remarked,  Cairo  was  soon  seen  to  be  one  of  the 
most  important  points  on  the  dividing-line  between  the  northern  and 
southern  states.  It  was  the  most  important  point  in  the  whole  Missis- 
sippi valley  and  in  many  respects  a  key  to  the  wide  extended  country, 
and  both  sides,  seeing  the  advantages  of  its  possession,  sought  to  occupy 
it.    The  Confederates  pushed  up  into  central  Kentucky  and  at  the  same 


CAIRO  DURING  THE  WAR,  1861-1865 133 

time  occupied  Columbus,  only  twenty  miles  below  us,  and  they  would 
have  been  in  Cairo  and  have  held  it,  at  least  for  a  time,  had  not  Governor 
Yates  rushed  his  very  first  soldiers  to  its  defense  against  the  Confederate 
approach. 

As  illustrating  the  view  taken  of  this  important  position  at  Cairo,  I 
quote  a  few  lines  from  General  Clark  E.  Carr's  book,  "  The  Illini,"  on 
page  357,  where  he  says: 

"Governor  Yates  received  a  telegram  from  the  Secretary  of  War 
requesting  him,  as  soon  as  enough  Illinois  troops  were  mustered  in, 
to  send  a  force  to  occupy  Cairo.  He  did  not  wait  for  troops  to  be 
mustered  in.  In  less  than,  forty-eight  hours,  he  had  General  Swift,  of 
Chicago,  flying  down,  upon  a  special  train  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
way, with  four  batteries  of  artillery  and  six  companies  of  infantry,  and 
the  most  important  strategic  point  west  of  the  Alleghanies  was  safe  in 
our  possession.  Cairo  was  from  that  time  forward  the  central  point 
of  all  the  movements  of  our  armies  on  the  western  rivers.  The  move- 
ment for  its  occupation  was  not  made  a  day  too  soon." 

Major  General  George  B.  McClellan  was,  in  April,  1861,  assigned 
to  the  department  of  the  Ohio,  consisting  of  the  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana, 
and  Illinois,  and  in  his  book  entitled  "McClellan's  Own  Story,"  he  says, 
on  page  45  : 

"In  the  course  of  May  and  June,  I  made  several  tours  of  inspection 
through  my  command.  Cairo  was  visited  at  an  early  day  and  after  a 
thorough  inspection,  I  gave  the  necessary-  orders  for  its  defense,  as  well 
as  that  of  Bird's  Point  which  I  also  visited.  Cairo  was  then  under  the 
immediate  command  of  Brigadier  General  Prentiss,  and,  considering  all 
the  circumstances,  the  troops  were  in  a  remarkably  satisfactory  condition. 
The  artillery,  especially,  had  made  very  good  progress  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  Colonel  Wagner,  a  Hungarian  officer,  whom  I  had  sent  there  for 
that  object." 

In  Col.  Taylor's  lengthy  letter  of  September  6,  1858,  to  the  Trustees 
of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  concerning  the  inundation  of  June  12,  1858, 
wherein  he  states  that  the  break  in  the  levee  occurred  near  where  it 
curves  into  the  cross  levee  towards  the  Ohio  River,  there  occurs  this 
passage:  "When  the  levee  broke,  no  one  was  in  sight  of  it  that  I  can 
ascertain.  Captain  McClellan,  the  Vice-President  and  General  Engineer 
of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  myself,  had  passed  over  it  on  foot 
within  two  hours  before  it  occurred,  and  the  watchman  whose  duty  it  was 
to  look  after  it  was  over  it  about  twenty  minutes  before,  but  to  none  of 
us  was  there  any  appearance  of  weakness.  After  leaving  the  location 
about  twenty  minutes  and  being  distant  less  than  one- fourth  of  a  mile,  the 
watchman  heard  the  roaring  of  the  waters  running  through  the  crevasse, 
and  when  I  reached  it,  three-fourths  of  an  hour  afterward,  the  water 
was  running  through  to  the  full  width  of  three  hundred  feet  and  in 
an  unbroken  stream,  as  if  it  was  to  the  full  depth  of  the  embankment. 
The  probability  is,  I  think,  that,  aided  by  the  stumps  and  roots  in  the 
embankment  and  it  is  possible  some  other  extraneous  substances,  the  water 
had  found  its  way  through  the  base  of  the  embankment,  and  had  so  far 

/ 


134  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

saturated  it  as  to  destroy  its  cohesion  with  the  natural  ground  below, 
and  then  the  weight  of  the  water  on  the  outside  pushed  it  away." 

Less  than  three  years  from  this  time,  the  great  Civil  War,  the  greatest 
of  modern  times,  had  begun,  and  Captain  McClellan  was  at  the  head 
of  the  Union  army  as  Major  General. 

In  saying  much  about  Cairo  during  the  war  one  would  likely  say 
much  more  about  the  war  than  about  Cairo.  The  Cairo  of  that  time 
could  be  disposed  of  in  a  few  pages  more  than  Dickens  used  in  1842, 
although  its  population  in  April,  1861,  was  just  about  ten  times  what  it 
was  in  April,  1842.  Anthony  Trollope  was  here  two  or  three  days  in 
February,  1862,  and  he  wrote  much  more  and  much  more  painfully 
about  the  town  than  did  his  facile  penned  countryman.  (Trollope's 
"North  America,"  vol.  2,  chapter  6.)  This  much,  however,  can  be  said  in 
palliation  of  Trollope's  description  of  Cairo,  and  that  is,  it  must  have 
looked  even  worse  in  1862  than  in  1842.  Cairo  during  the  war  was 
hardly  Cairo  at  all.  It  was  a  great  military  camp,  set  down  in  a  low  flat 
plain  and  surrounded  by  high  levees  from  which  you  descended  to  the 
town's  level  by  long  flights  of  wooden  steps  at  the  intersection  of  the  un- 
improved and  often  very  muddy  streets.  Trollope  never  tired  of  talking 
of  the  mud.  The  town  was,  as  now,  in  a  basin,  whose  rim  was  a  high 
earth  embankment,  seven  or  eight  miles  in  circuit,  and  over  which  one 
could  not  see  either  river  unless  upon  a  building  or  other  elevation.  In- 
side of  these  levees  and  along  the  same  were  the  camps  or  barracks  of  the 
soldiers.  At  the  junction  of  the  rivers  they  constructed  Fort  Defiance. 
It  was  not  of  great  extent.  It  was  simply  a  large  flat-topped  mound, 
on  which  the  cannons  were  placed,  so  as  to  command  effectually  the 
junction  of  the  tw'O  great  streams.  Two  or  three  miles  lower  down  and 
on  the  Kentucky  side  of  the  Ohio  and  at  a  point  very  near  where  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  first  push  over  to  the  Kentucky  shore.  Fort 
Holt  \\'as  erected.  It  was  named  for  the  judge  advocate 
general  of  the  United  States  army,  General  Joseph  Holt,  of 
Kentucky.  This  point  or  place  was  subsequently  called  Fill- 
more. Fort  Holt  commanded  not  only  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
but  commanded  also  the  approach  from  the  south  on  that  river.  Fort 
Defiance  was  also  well  situated  to  defend  against  vessels  coming  up  the 
Mississippi  and  entering  the  Ohio.  There  was  also  a  fort,  for  a  time, 
at  Bird's  Point  or  rather  at  the  site  of  Ohio  City,  somewhat  east  or 
further  down  the  river.  These  three  forts  were  intended  to  protect 
Cairo  by  commanding  the  adjacent  parts  of  Kentucky  and  Missouri. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  war  the  expression  "Border  States" 
meant  very  much  indeed.  These  border  states  were  slave  states.  The  free 
states  just  north  of  them  were  scarcely  ever  spoken  of  as  border  states. 
These  border  states  were  a  sort  of  neutral  zone  or  a  zone  in  which  the 
people  were  pretty  equally  divided  bet\^'een  union  and  secession.  This 
equality  of  division  led  to  a  desire  for  neutrality,  that  is,  freedom  from 
invasion  by  either  side.     Had  this  been  carried  out  or  been  assented  to, 


f* 


River  Gunboats.  Cairo.  1S61 


CAIRO  DURING  THE  WAR,  1 861-1865 135 

we  would  have  had  no  war;  but  the  neutral  zone  could  not  be  main- 
tained. The  Confederates  pushed  up  into  Kentucky  as  a  kind  of 
matter  of  course  or  of  right,  she  being  a  slave  state ;  and  before  the  year 
1 86 1  closed,  they  had  secured  and  fortified  Columbus  twenty  miles 
below  us,  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland  Rivers,  and  Bowling  Green, 
all  in  that  state.  They  had  two  forts  on  the  Tennessee,  Fort  Hieman 
on  the  west  side  and  Fort  Henry  on  the  east  side,  just  a  little  below; 
and  just  across  the  narrow  space  of  ten  or  twelve  miles,  they  had  their 
Fort  Donelson  on  the  Cumberland,  inclosing  one  hundred  acres  of 
ground,  and  occupying  a  high  position  on  that  river.  At  Columbus 
they  had  the  advantage  of  the  very  high  bluffs  just  above  the  town. 

With  this  well-selected  line  of  advance  toward  the  north,  it  was 
quite  impossible,  so  long  as  it  was  maintained,  for  the  northern  forces 
to  proceed  a  foot  southward  in  this  region  of  country.  On  their  way 
northward,  the  Confederates  would  not  have  stopped  at  Columbus 
but  would  have  occupied  and  held  Cairo  with  all  the  advantages  the 
place  afforded,  had  they  moved  a  month  sooner  or  had  moved  with  a 
stronger  force  either  by  land  or  by  river.  This  early  advance  into 
Kentucky  had  for  its  main  object  the  drawing  of  that  important  state 
into  the  Confederacy.  Had  not  General  Grant  come  this  way,  there 
is  no  telling  how  far  the  enemy's  line  would  have  gone  northward,  per- 
haps to  the  Ohio  River.  Grant  not  only  stayed  its  advance  but  pushed 
it  far  southward  as  we  will  now  proceed  to  show. 

Ulysses  Grant  was  born  in  Ohio  April  27,  1822 ;  graduated  at  West 
Point  in  1 843 ;  was  for  many  years  in  the  regular  army  and  was  in  the 
Mexican  War;  was  a  farmer  near  St.  Louis  in  the  years  1855-57;  i" 
the  real  estate  business  in  St.  Louis  in  1858;  moved  to  Galena  in  1859, 
and  there  was  a  clerk  in  his  father's  tannery  that  year  and  i860;  ap- 
pointed colonel  of  the  twenty-first  regiment  of  Illinois  volunteers  in 
May,  1861 ;  brigadier-general  of  volunteers  at  Mexico,  Missouri,  in 
July,  1 86 1,  and  major  general  of  volunteers  at  Fort  Donelson  February, 
1862;  had  his  headquarters  at  Cairo  from  September,  1861,  to  April, 
1862;  was  appointed  major  general  in  the  regular  army  on  the  capture 
of  Vicksburg  July  4,  1863,  and  lieutenant  general  in  1864,  and  general 
of  the  army  in  1867;  and  was  elected  President  in  November,  1868. 
Few  men  at  home  or  abroad,  at  any  time  in  history,  have  risen  through 
so  many  grades  and  so  high  as  this;  from  a  clerkship  in  a  tannery  to 
the  presidency  of  the  United  States  within  less  than  eight  years. 

Captain  Grant  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  twenty-first  regiment 
of  Illinois  Infantry  in  May,  186 1,  and  leaving  Springfield  with  his 
regiment,  he  entered  the  state  of  Missouri  in  the  vicinity  of  Quincy  or 
Hannibal,  and  was  first  stationed  at  JeflEerson  Cit}'.  In  a  very  short 
time,  he  was  transferred,  and  given  the  command  of  southeastern 
Missouri  and  southern  Illinois.  He  made  his  headquarters  at  Cape 
Girardeau.  At  this  time,  July  and  August,  1861,  Jeff.  Thompson  and 
other  Confederate  officers  were  operating  all  over  the  southern  part  of 


136  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Missouri  and  to  them  the  Federal  commanders  were  giving  more  or 
less  attention.  On  the  4th  day  of  September,  1861,  Grant  came  to 
Cairo,  and  this  place  remained  his  headquarters  until  the  northern  line 
of  the  Confederate  forces  had  been  pushed  far  southward.  Col.  Oglesby 
was  in  command  at  Cairo  when  Grant  arrived.  On  the  second  or 
third  day  after  his  arrival,  he  assembled  a  few  vessels  and  hurried  up  to 
Paducah  and  took  possession  of  the  place.  Had  he  delayed  as  much 
as  eight  or  ten  hours,  the  Confederates  would  have  had  possession  of 
that  city.  Three  to  four  thousand  of  their  soldiers  were  on  their 
way  from  Columbus  and  were  within  a  few  miles  of  Paducah  when 
Grant  entered  and  took  possession.  He  had  sent  Oglesby  with  three 
thousand  men  into  the  state  of  Missouri,  along  the  line  of  the 
present  Iron  Mountain  Railroad,  and  on  the  6th  of  November  he  pro- 
ceeded down  the  Mississippi,  as  far  as  or  near  Columbus  and  Belmont, 
with  two  or  three  gun-boats  and  about  three  thousand  men.  This 
movement,  which  led  to  the  battle  of  Belmont  November  7,  1861,  was 
intended  to  detain  at  Columbus  the  Confederate  forces  and  thereby 
protect  Oglesby  and  his  troops.  Grant  says  that  had  not  this  move- 
ment been  made  Oglesby's  forces  would  no  doubt  have  been  captured. 

The  entrance  of  the  Confederates  into  Kentucky  at  different  points 
was  but  an  invitation  to  the  Union  forces  to  enter  and  occupy  the 
state  so  far  as  they  might  be  able.  To  break  this  central  hold  of  the 
Confederacy  on  Kentucky,  Grant  saw  that  the  rivers  afforded  him  the 
very  best  available  means.  By  the  close  of  the  year  1861  quite  a  large 
number  of  war  vessels  suitable  for  river  service  had  been  assembled  at 
Cairo  and  Mound  City,  where,  under  the  supervision  of  Captain 
Williami  L.  Hambleton,  the  government  had  built  eight  or  ten  gun- 
boats, one  of  which  Commodore  Foote  named  The  Cairo.  These  and 
many  other  vessels  were  ready  for  service  late  in  1861.  They  were 
first  brought  into  service  at  Belmont  November  7th;  then  at  Fort 
Henry  February  7th;  then  at  Fort  Donclson  February  16,  1862.  The 
capture  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  led  to  the  evacuation  of  Bowling 
Green;  and  as  the  vessels  proceeded  on  up  the  Cumberland  to  Nash- 
ville, the  latter  was  also  evacuated  by  General  Albert  Sidney  Johnson. 
Then  came  the  evacuation  of  Columbus.  Following  these  events  came 
the  great  battle  of  Pittsburg  Landing  or  Shiloh  and  the  retreat  of 
the  Confederates  to  Corinth.  Before  the  end  of  the  month  of  May, 
Corinth  was  given  up  to  the  Federals,  and  this  was  followed,  June  6th, 
by  the  evacuation  of  Memphis.  Thus  within  the  short  space  of  four 
months,  Grant  had  pushed  the  Confederate  line  from  central  Kentucky 
down  to  the  south  line  of  the  state  of  Tennessee. 

Following  Nashville,  Memphis  and  Corinth,  came  Knoxville  and 
Chattanooga;  and  though  the  progress  southward  was  or  seemed  slow, 
yet  by  the  end  of  another  year,  namely,  July  4,  1863,  fifteen  months 
from  the  battle  of  Pittsburg  Landing,  Vicksburg  had  fallen.  This  led 
to  the  junction  of  the  Union  forces  from  the  north  and  from  the  south 
and  the  full  and  complete  possession  of  the  Mississippi  River  from  its 
source  to  its  mouth;  and  along  with  this  came  the  possession  also  of 


CAIRO  DURING  THE  WAR,  1861-1865  137 

all  the  states  on  the  river  south  of  Cairo,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Missis- 
sippi, and  Louisiana  on  the  east,  and  on  the  west,  Louisiana,  Arkansas, 
and  Missouri.  The  Confederacy  was  thus  severed  in  twain,  divided  as 
along  the  median  lines. 

Although  the  red  line  of  war  moved  southward  from  Cairo,  she  con- 
tinued to  be  the  great  point  of  departure  for  everything  bound  south- 
ward, as  she  was  the  point  of  arrival  for  everything  going  northward. 
The  southern  armies  were  pushed  backward,  but  the  people  within  the 
reclaimed  territory  were  as  a  general  thing  no  friends  of  the  Union 
cause,  and  hence  everything  south  of  the  Ohio  had  to  be  held  by  arms. 
Cairo  thus  continued  to  be  throughout  the  war  the  most  southern  point 
in  the  great  valley  adhering  heartily  to  the  Union.  Through  the  city 
there  was  almost  a  constant  stream  of  soldiers  bound  northward  or 
southward.  A  few  days  after  the  battle  of  Fort  Donelson  fifteen 
thousand  Confederates  were  brought  to  Cairo  and  sent  northward  to 
the  different  prison  camps.  Over  thirty  thousand  came  also  from 
Vicksburg.  Some  of  our  older  citizens  remember  how  the  steamboats 
or  other  transports  seemed  covered  and  alive  with  them,  dressed  as 
they  all  were  in  their  brown  or  butternut  suits.  And  so  it  continued 
throughout  the  war. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  I  must  speak  of  the  gun-boat  The  Cairo, 
so  named  October  29,  1861,  by  Commodore  Foote,  who  was  so  long 
here  and  held  in  such  high  esteem  by  our  citizens.  This  vessel  was  one 
of  six  or  eight  built  at  Mound  City,  as  above  stated.  Her  commander 
was  Lieutenant  Nathaniel  C.  Bryant.  He  was  assigned  to  the  com- 
mand of  this  vessel  by  Commodore  Foote.  It  was  badly  disabled  at 
Fort  Holt  by  an  accident.  It  was  at  Fort  Henry  and  also  at  Fort 
Donelson  and  went  on  up  the  river  to  Nashville.  It  was  also  at  the 
siege  of  Vicksburg,  and  was  destroyed  while  in  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo 
River  about  the  12th  of  July,  1863,  by  a  torpedo,  which  it  encountered 
in  moving  about  in  that  river. 

I  cannot  say  much  of  the  town  itself  during  this  period  of  four  or 
five  years,  for  the  soldiers  were  here  and  passing  and  repassing  far 
up  into  the  year  1865,  and  perhaps  later.  Had  we  the  registers  of  the 
old  St.  Charles  Hotel  from  April  15,  1861,  when  the  war  began,  to 
April  15,  1865,  when  the  President  was  assassinated,  how  many  scores 
of  distinguished  names  we  would  see  therein  written.  In  number 
and  prominence  they  would  be  exceeded  only  by  those  at  the  capital 
of  the  Nation  for  the  same  period. 

I  cannot  devote  more  space  to  this  subject;  nor  is  it  necessary. 
Cairo's  importance  during  the  war  was  due  to  her  situation  at  the 
junction  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  and  perhaps  more  relating 
to  the  city  will  be  found  in  the  records  of  the  navy  than  of  the  army. 
See  especially  vol.  22,  series  I,  of  the  records  of  the  Union  and  Con- 
federate Navies,  in  our  Public  Library. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

CHURCHES 

r>iT.  PATRICK'S  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.— Under  the 
\  supervision  of  Rev.  C.  M.  Collins,  C.  M.,  of  Cape  Girardeau,  who 
^^  occasionally  visited  Cairo  to  minister  to  the  Catholic  people  here,  a 
frame  church  building,  about  thirty-six  feet  square,  was  erected  upon  posts 
at  the  intersection  of  i8th  and  Ohio  Streets,  in  1838.  The  bell  was  hung 
in  the  forks  of  a  tree  in  front  of  the  church.  This  was  no  doubt  the 
first  church  building  of  any  kind  erected  in  Cairo.  The  records  of 
St.  Patrick's  parish  show  that  Father  Collins  baptized  nineteen  persons 
in  1840,  eighteen  in  1841,  four  in  1842,  and  three  in  1843.  This 
falling  off  was  due  to  the  failure  of  the  Cairo  company  and  the  conse- 
quent abandonment  of  the  town,  practically,  in  1843.  On  Christmas 
day  1844,  the  Rev.  J.  P.  McGerry,  C.  M.,  baptized  Mary  Ann  Lefco- 
vitch,  John  Shannessy  and  John  Corcoran.  There  seems  to  be  no 
record  of  Catholic  church  matters  in  Cairo  from  February,  1845,  to 
November,  1853;  and  from  this  last  date  the  same  records  show  that 
Rev.  P.  McCabe  had  charge  here  until  December,  1858.  From  the 
"Cairo  Times"  of  1854,  it  appears  that  St.  Patrick's  church  building, 
thirt}^-five  by  sevent>^  feet,  with  a  large  roomy  basement,  was  com- 
pleted under  the  supervision  of  Father  McCabe  and  services  held  therein 
on  Sunday,  June  25th,  of  that  year.  The  contractor  was  John  Saxton, 
of  St.  Louis,  and  the  cost  of  the  building  about  five  thousand  dollars. 

Father  McCabe  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Thomas  Walsh,  who  con- 
tinued as  pastor  until  his  death,  March  15,  1863.  Rev.  Louis  A. 
Lambert  was  assistant  to  Father  Walsh  from  April,  1859,  to  the  Sep- 
tember following,  and  upon  the  death  of  Father  Walsh,  he,  then  pastor 
at  Shawneetown,  was  transferred  to  St.  Patrick's  church  here.  In 
May,  1868,  he  resigned  his  charge  and  went  to  New  York,  and  was 
succeeded  by  the  Rev.  P.  Brady,  his  assistant,  who  remained  until 
October,  1869,  when  he  was  transferred  to  Springfield.  Rev.  P.  J. 
O'Halloran  was  next  in  succession  and  continued  until  November, 
1873,  when  he  and  Rev.  Francis  H.  Zabel,  D.  D.,  of  East  St.  Louis, 
exchanged  places.  Father  Zabel  remained  until  September,  1879.  Our 
older  citizens  remember  him  and  especially  his  devoted  self-sacrificing 
labors  during  the  yellow  fever  of  1878.  He  was  a  man  whom  every 
one  in  the  city  esteemed  very  highly.  Rev.  Thomas  Masterson  came 
from  Mound  City  to  take  his  place  and  remained  until  July,  1882. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  J.  Murphy,  who  remained  until  November, 
1885.  Rev.  Charles  Sweeney  succeeded  him  and  remained  until  Novem- 
ber, 1889.  Then  came  Rev.  James  Eckerle,  who  was  pastor  until  Decem- 

13S 


CHURCHES  139 


ber,  1890,  and  who  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  T.  Day.  The  latter 
was  transferred  in  November,  1891,  and  upon  his  departure  the  Rev. 
Charles  J.  Eschman  took  charge  of  the  parish.  During  Father  Esch- 
man's  pastorate,  and  in  1894,  the  present  fine  stone  church  was  built. 
In  March,  1902,  Father  Eschman  and  Rev.  James  Gillen,  of  Prairie 
du  Rocher,  exchanged  places.  Father  Gillen  remained  in  charge  until 
May,  1904,  when  he  was  assigned  to  St.  Joseph's  parish,  and  Rev. 
James  J.  Downey  succeeded  Father  Gillen  as  pastor  of  St.  Patrick's, 
and  he  is  now  in  charge.  Shortly  after  he  came  he  built  the  new 
rectory,  and  later  on  installed  the  fine  pipe  organ  now  in  the  church. 

Until  1879,  St.  Patrick's  had  a  large  congregation,  being  attended 
by  all  but  the  German  Catholics  of  the  city.  In  that  year  the  bishop 
divided  the  city  into  two  parishes,  making  Fifteenth  Street  the  boundary 
line.  This  division  reduced  the  size  of  the  congregation  by  more  than 
half,  as  most  of  the  Catholic  people  resided  in  the  upper  part  of  the  cit)^ 

The  Church  of  the  Redeemer  (Episcopal). — Origin  of  Parish:  A 
letter,  December  i,  1840,  Rt.  Rev.  Philander  Chase,  bishop  of  Illinois, 
to  J.  P.  T.  Ingraham,  appointing  him  "a  lay  reader  among  the  Episco- 
palians of  Cairo;"  a  meeting  April  18,  1841,  the  bishop  presiding,  at 
which  was  formed  the  "Parochial  Association  of  Christ  Church  Cairo;" 
organization  of  "Church  of  the  Redeemer"  November  3,  1862;  incor- 
porated April  25,  1864,  under  the  title  "Rector,  Wardens,  and  Vestry- 
men of  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer,  Cairo,  Illinois."  Subscription 
started  May  2,  1858,  to  erect  church;  foundation  partly  laid  and 
destroyed  by  high  water;  enclosed  fall  1862,  occupied  several  weeks  for 
government  hospital,  then  finished ;  occasional  services  by  Rev.  S.  Y. 
McMasters  and  other  army  chaplains;  first  regular  services  February 
8,  1863.  Building  substantial  frame  44x70  feet,  wooden  tower,  cost 
$3,000.00,  erected  on  14th  Street  (lots  35  to  39,  block  44,  City,  donated 
by  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  Trust  Property' )  ;  sold  July  2,  1886,  to  Rt. 
Rev.  George  F.  Seymour,  bishop  of  Springfield,  in  trust  for  "St. 
Michael  Mission"  (colored  Episcopal)  now  occupying  same.  Present 
Church  of  the  Redeemer,  N.  E.  corner  of  Washington  Avenue  and 
Sixth  Street  (lots  24  to  39,  Block  24,  City)  a  beautiful  brown  stone 
edifice,  slate  roof,  cupola,  gold  gilt  cross,  cost  including  furnishings 
and  memorials,  $30,899.49,  commenced  September  28,  1886;  corner- 
stone laid  December  7,  1886;  finished  April  9,  1888;  first  services  April 
10,  1888;  consecrated  by  Bishop  Seymour  November  13,  1892.  Rectors 
of  the  parish,  with  time  of  service:  Isaac  P.  Labagh,  November  16, 
1862,  to  January  18,  1864;  Thomas  Lyle,  May  2,  1864,  to  February 
I,  1867;  W.  W.  Rafter,  April  29,  1867,  to  September  16,  1867;  J. 
W.  Coe,  September  21,  1867,  to  October  30,  1869;  Edward  Coan, 
April  10,  1870,  to  March  9,  1873;  Charles  A.  Gilbert,  November  i, 
1873,  to  Januan^  i,  1877;  David  A.  Bonnar,  November  2,  1879,  to 
December  11,  1880;  Frederick  P.  Davenport,  June  i,  1 881,  to  November 
28,  1891;  Fr.  A.  De  Rosset,  October  31,  1892,  to  September  3,  1901 ; 
E.  L.  Roland,  November  12,  1902,  to  November  12,  1906;  A.  H.  W. 


140 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Anderson,  May  i,  1907,  to  December  i,  1908;  George  M.  Babcock, 
present  rector  since  May  5,  1909.  Wardens:  Samuel  S.  Taylor, 
Henry  S.  Candee,  1864  to  1867;  Horace  Wardner,  Samuel  B.  Halli- 
day,  1867;  Horace  Wardner,  W.  W.  Thornton,  1868;  W.  W 
Thornton,  Henrj^  L.  Halliday,  1869;  Horace  Wardner,  Henry  L.  Halli- 
day,  1870  to  1872;  Henry  H.  Candee,  William  B.  Gilbert,  1872  to 
1897;  William  B.  Gilbert,  Miles  Fredk.  Gilbert,  1897  to  present  time. 
Vestrymen:  (Six  elected  annually  since  1862  in  addition  to  the 
wardens)  have  included  many  substantial  citizens,  among  whom,  for 
want  of  space,  can  only  be  mentioned  the  old  familiar  names  of  Robert 
Jennings,  Alfred  B.  Safford,  Wm.  P.  Halliday,  Charles  Thrupp,  Jesse 
B.  Humphrey,  Wm.  H.  Morris,  David  J.  Baker,  Alex.  H.  Irvin,  John 
Q.  Harmon,  C.  W.  Dunning.  Present  incumbents  are  Henry  S. 
Candee,  Joseph  W.  Wenger,  Frank  Spencer,  Henry  E.  Halliday,  John 
T.  Brown,  C.  Fred  Galigher.     Present  communicants  222. 

The  Presbyterian  Church. — On  the  20th  day  of  December,  1882. 
this  church  celebrated  the  twent}^-fifth  anniversary  of  its  organization. 
On  that  occasion  Mr.  George  Fisher,  then  the  editor  and  publisher 
of  the  "Weekly  Citizen,"  presented  to  the  congregation  an  historical 
sketch  of  the  church.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  congregation  in 
1885,  he  added  a  supplemental  account,  together  with  a  very  short 
manual  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Albert  H.  Trick,  then  the  pastor  of  the 
church.  All  these  Mr.  Fisher  caused  to  be  printed  in  a  pamphlet  of 
35  pages;  and  it  is  from  this  pamphlet  that  almost  all  of  the  following 
information  is  obtained. 

The  church  building  was  erected  in  the  year  1855,  and  dedicated 
the  first  Sabbath  of  January,  1856,  but  the  lots,  31,  32,  33  and  34,  block 
50,  in  the  city,  were  not  conveyed  to  the  trustees  of  the  church  by  the 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  until  February  12,  1856.  The 
Rev.  Robert  Stewart,  through  whose  efforts  the  building  had  been 
erected,  preached  the  sermon  at  the  dedication.  Most  of  the  money 
for  the  erection  of  the  church  came  from  Presbyterians  of  the  city  of 
St.  Louis.  The  ladies  of  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Alton  gave  the 
funds  for  the  furnishing  of  the  church.  The  names  of  the  pastors  of 
the  church  and  the  length  of  their  terms  of  service  are  as  follows: 
Rev.  Charles  Kenmore,  October,  1856,  to  June,  1857;  Rev.  A.  G. 
Martin,  December,  1858,  to  March  1861 ;  Rev.  Robert  Stewart,  June, 
1862  to  November,  1864;  Rev.  H.  P.  Roberts,  January,  1865,  to  Feb- 
ruary, 1867;  Rev.  C.  H.  Foote,  February,  1867,  to  November,  1871; 
Rev.  H.  B.  Thayer,  Januarj^  1872,  to  March,  1875;  Rev.  Benjamin 
Y.  George,  October,  1875,  to  October,  1883.  From  that  time  to 
November,  1884,  the  church  Avas  without  a  pastor,  but  was  supplied 
almost  all  the  time  by  ministers  from  other  places.  The  Rev.  Albert 
H.  Trick  was  pastor,  December,  1884,  to  November,  1890;  Rev. 
Charles  T.  Phillips,  April,  1891,  to  September,  1897;  Rev.  J.  T.  M. 
Knox,  January,  1898,  to  May,  1905.  The  Rev.  A.  S.  Buchanan 
became  pastor  in  November,  1905,  and  is  now  the  pastor  of  the  church. 

The  names  of   the  elders  of   the  church  and   when   chosen  are   as 


CHURCHES  141 


follows:  Edward  P.  Wilcox  and  James  McFerran,  1861 ;  William 
Cunningham,  1863;  Daniel  W.  Munn  and  Walter  Hyslop,  1865; 
Joseph  B.  Reed  and  John  M.  Lansden,  1868;  George  Fisher  and 
Reuben  S.  Yocum,  1880;  Edmund  S.  Dewey,  William  White  and 
Slater  S.  Bossinger,  1890;  M.  Easterdaj^,  1893;  Charles  P.  Simons, 
1896;  William  H.  Gibson  and  Julius  G.  Holman,  1904;  William  S. 
Dewey  and  Rollo  H.  Spann,  1906;  and  Jesse  W.  Rule,  1908.  The 
present  elders  are  William  White,  M.  Easterday,  William  H.  Gibson, 
William  S.  Dewey,  Rollo  H.  Spann  and  Jesse  W.  Rule.  The  present 
trustees  of  the  church  are  Charles  Cunningham,  William  S.  Dewey, 
William  J.  Buchanan,  William  H.  Sutherland,  Arthur  B.  Turner, 
Walter  H.  Wood  and  Quinton  E.  Beckwith. 

In  1893,  the  congregation  decided  to  erect  a  new  church  building, 
and  many  of  the  members  residing  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  it  was 
thought  best  to  build  further  up  town,  and  accordingly  lots  14,  15,  16, 
17  and  18,  in  block  51,  in  the  First  Addition  to  the  cit)^,  on  the  south- 
east corner  of  Eighteenth  Street  and  Washington  Avenue,  were  pur- 
chased June  10,  1893;  and  on  the  23d  day  of  December  of  that  year, 
the  lots  on  Eighth  Street  and  the  building  thereon  were  sold  and  the 
proceeds,  with  the  subscription  moneys,  used  in  the  erection  of  the 
church  on  the  lots  named.  The  Eighth  Street  lots  had  been  conveyed 
to  the  church  for  church  purposes,  with  a  clause  in  the  deed  providing 
for  a  reversion.  To  extinguish  this  right  so  as  to  enable  the  congre- 
gation to  sell,  they  paid  the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars  per  lot.  The 
new  building  and  the  manse  property  were  completed  in  the  year  1894, 
under  the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  T.  C.  Phillips,  who  took  up  the  work 
of  the  new  church  enterprise  with  great  earnestness  and  carried  it  on 
to  a  successful  and  speedy  completion.  The  present  membership  of 
the  church  is  three  hundred  and  ten. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. — The  few  early  Methodist 
families  in  Cairo  were  served  by  missionaries  who  made  occasional 
visits  in  1852  and  1853.  The  earliest  of  these  were  Revs.  Henry  C. 
Blackwell  and  T.  C.  Lopas,  who  held  services  and  preached  to  the 
six  or  eight  Methodist  families  at  that  period. 

Rev.  Ephraim  Joy  visited  Cairo  and  preached  a  few  times  later. 
The  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  society  was  organized  in  1855, 
and  proceeded  to  raise  funds  for  the  erection  of  a  church.  They  were 
successful  in  their  efforts  and  work  on  the  building  was  begun  in  the 
summer  of  1856.  It  was  used  for  services  in  Februarys,  1857.  The 
church  was  of  Gothic  stj'le,  .38  feet  wide  by  60  feet  in  depth,  with  a 
20  foot  ceiling.  A  Mr.  Van  Ness  was  the  architect,  and  McKenzie 
&  Carnahan  were  the  builders. 

Rev.  G.  W.  Hughey  was  pastor  during  the  building  of  the  church. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  R.  H.  Manier  in  1856.  A  revival  was  held 
in  the  new  church  beginning  in  February,  1857. 

The  church  was  dedicated  on  March  i,  1857,  i"  the  presence  of  a 
gathering  of  about  two  hundred  persons.  Rev.  Dr.  Akers  preached 
the  dedicatory  sermon  from  the  text,  "And  he  was  afraid    and  said  this 


142 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

is  none  other  than  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven." 
Rev.  Mr.  Shumate  followed  in  a  short  sermon,  in  which  he  appealed 
to  the  sympathies  of  his  audience  regarding  the  church  debt.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  raising  a  collection  of  $43.  Subscriptions  were  also  made 
amounting  to  $375.00. 

During  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hughey's  pastorate,  toward  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War,  a  frame  parsonage  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $2,300.  In  1891,  the 
present  brick  church  edifice  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  nearly  $11,000. 
The  building  committee  in  charge  at  that  time  was  composed  of  George 
Parsons,  Wilton  Trigg  and  W.  H.  Oakley. 

The  pastors  of  the  church  from  the  organization  of  the  society  up 
to  the  appointment  of  the  present  incumbent  have  been  as  follows,  viz. : 
G.  W.  Hughey,  in  1855;  R.  H.  Manier,  1856;  J.  A.  Scarritt,  1857; 
C.  Babbitt,  1858;  G.  W.  Jenks,  1859;  L-  Hawkins,  i860;  J.  W.  Lowe, 
1861;  G.  W.  Hughey,  1863  to  1865;  M.  A.  Bryson,  1866;  John  Van- 
cleve,  1867;  Erastus  Lathrop,  1868;  F.  M.  Van  Treese,  1869-70;  F. 
L.  Thompson,  1870-73;  J.  L.  Waller,  1873-75;  J-  D.  Gillham,  1875- 
77;  A.  P.  Morrison,  1877;  W.  F.  Whitaker,  1878-80;  J.  A.  Scarritt, 
1881-83;  E.  A.  Hoyt,  1884-86;  J.  W.  Phillips,  1887-89;  S.  P.  Groves, 
1890-93;  F.  M.  Van  Treese,  1894-97;  J.  A.  Scarritt,  1898- 1905;  and 
W.  T.  Morris,  1905-08;  Rev.  J.  G.  Dee,  the  present  pastor,  succeeded 
Rev.  Mr.  Morris  on  September  22,  1908.  In  1909,  the  present  par- 
sonage was  built  at  a  cost  of  about  $3,000.00. 

The  present  church  membership  is  250,  with  a  Sunday-school  enroll- 
ment of  400  and  an  average  attendance  of  250.  Prof.  T.  C.  Clendenen 
is  president  of  the  board  of  trustees,  and  Edwin  Bond,  Sunday-school 
superintendent. 

The  Immanuel  Lutheran  Church. — The  Immanuel  Lutheran  Con- 
gregation of  Cairo  was  organized  in  October,  1866,  by  Andrew  Lohr, 
Christian  Schulze,  Robert  Bribach,  Henry  Harris,  Gustave  Beland, 
Henry  Miesner  and  Fred  and  Henry  Whitcamp.  Services  were  at 
first  held  in  the  hall  of  the  Relief  Fire  Engine  House  on  Seventh  Street, 
the  first  pastor  having  been  Rev.  J.  Dunsing.  About  five  years  after 
the  society  was  organized,  it  purchased  a  frame  building  on  Douglas 
Street,  west  of  Washington  Avenue,  which  had  previously  been  used 
as  a  Baptist  church.  The  congregation  occupied  this  building  until  1896, 
when  the  present  handsome  brick  church  was  erected.  This  edifice 
is  30  by  50  feet,  a  semi-circular  altar  recess  in  the  rear,  an  organ 
recess  on  the  left,  and  a  library  room  on  the  right.  The  cost  of  the 
building,  and  its  furnishings,  was  $10,000.  Two  years  after  the  church 
was  erected,  a  primary  class  Sunday-school  room,  16  by  30  feet,  was 
built  in  the  rear  of  and  connected  with  the  church.  This  was  a  gift 
from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  Lohr. 

The  first  service  in  the  new  church  was  conducted  by  Rev.  J.  G. 
M.  Hursh.  The  dedication  of  the  building  took  place  on  May  9, 
1897.  R^v.  S.  S.  Barnitz  officiated,  and  was  assisted  by  Revs.  H.  L. 
McGill,  E.  H.  Kitch  and  D.  C.  Hurst. 

Rev.  G.  P.  Heilbig,  the  second  pastor,  assumed  charge  in  January, 


CHURCHES  143 


1870,  and  remained  until  December,  1872.  Rev.  C.  Duerschner  was 
pastor  from  April,  1873,  until  January,  1879.  Next  came  Rev.  E. 
Knappe  in  May,  1879,  and  remained  until  November,  1881.  Rev. 
Carl  Schuart  was  in  charge  from  July,  1882,  until  his  death  on  August 
4,  1885.  Rev.  W.  Englebracht  served  from  September,  1885,  to 
November,  1888;  and  Rev.  J.  F.  Moenkemueller,  the  last  of  the 
German  pastors,  from  July,  1889,  to  July,  1892.  At  this  time  the 
congregation  decided  to  become  English  speaking  and  it  united  with  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod  of  Southern  Illinois. 

Rev.  H.  C.  Grossman,  the  first  English-speaking  pastor,  assumed 
charge  in  January,  1894,  ^"d  resigned  in  November,  1895.  Then  came 
Rev.  W.  C.  Seidel,  serving  until  July,  1896.  Rev.  J.  G.  M.  Hursh 
was  pastor  from  January,  1897,  until  February,  1903.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  George  A.  Bowers,  D.  D.,  who  resigned  in  April,  1904. 
In  August,  1904,  Rev.  C.  H.  Armstrong  accepted  a  call  and  continued 
until  December,  1909. 

St.  Joseph's  Roman  Catholic  Church. — St.  Joseph's  church  was 
built  by  the  German  Catholics  of  Cairo,  and  was  completed  in  the 
spring  of  1872.  Lots  were  secured  in  the  summer  of  1871,  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  Walnut  and  Cross  Streets.  In  September  the  con- 
tract for  building  the  church  was  let  to  R.  M.  Melcher  and  Son,  of 
St.  Louis,  for  $15,500.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  Sunday,  October 
22,  1 87 1,  Rev.  D.  S.  Phelan,  of  St.  Louis,  preaching  the  sermon.  The 
first  mass  was  celebrated  in  the  new  church  on  Sunday,  April  22,  1872, 
it  being  a  solemn  high  mass.  Rev.  C.  Hoffman  was  the  first  pastor, 
and  remained  about  two  years.  William  Kluge  and  Peter  Saup  were 
the  first  lay  trustees.  St.  Joseph's  continued  as  a  German  church  until 
1879,  when  Bishop  Baltes  divided  the  city  into  two  parishes,  making 
Fifteenth  Street  the  boundary  line.  He  then  designated  St.  Joseph's 
as  the  parish  church  for  all  Catholics,  regardless  of  nationality,  residing 
north  of  the  boundary  line.  Several  years  later.  Seventeenth  Street 
was  made  the  dividing  line.  Since  Father  Hoffman's  departure,  the 
successive  pastors  have  been :  Rev.  G.  Hoppe  for  two  years ;  Rev. 
Louis  Lammert  for  three  years;  Rev.  Thos.  Hogan,  one  year;  Rev. 
O.  O'Hare,  three  years,  having  died  in  1883;  Rev.  C.  Sweeney,  two 
years;  Rev.  L.  Hinsen,  one  year,  and  Rev.  J.  B.  Diepenbrock  from 
November,  1886,  to  May,  1904.  Rev.  James  Gillen,  the  present 
pastor,  succeeded  Father  Diepenbrock  in  May,  1904.  During  Father 
Gillen's  pastorate,  a  fine  modern  two-story  brick  school-house  has  been 
built  in  the  rear  of  the  church  at  a  cost  of  $18,000.  It  was  com- 
pleted in  the  winter  of  1905-6.  In  1907,  the  congregation  purchased 
a  modern  residence  for  the  pastor  adjoining  the  church  property. 


The  Christian  Church. — The  Christian  church  in  Cairo  was  or- 
ganized in  May,  1866,  with  the  following  charter  members:  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  S.  R.   Hay,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  B.  Fenton,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 


144 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Morrison,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCauley,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Trumbo,  Mr.  J 
C.  Talbot,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robert  J.  Cundiff,  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Clark 
Mrs.  White,  Mrs.  Brown,  Mrs.  Gilkey,  Mrs.  Henderson,  Mrs.  Seely 
Mrs.  Wilson,  Mrs.  Layton,  Miss  Gilkey  and  Miss  Smith.  Rev.  G 
G.  Mullins,  of  Chicago,  was  the  organizer.  S.  R.  Hay,  A.  B.  Fen  ton 
and  Mr.  Cyrus  were  made  overseers,  and  J.  C.  Talbot  and  R.  J 
Cundiff,  deacons.  The  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  donated 
the  society  four  lots  on  the  north  side  of  Eighteenth  Street,  between 
Washington  Avenue  and  Walnut  Street.  A  frame  church  building 
36  by  55  feet  was  soon  erected  at  a  cost  of  $4,500. 

In  1894,  the  congregation  secured  a  new  site  on  the  northwest 
corner  of  Sixteenth  and  Poplar  Streets,  and  the  church  was  moved 
there.  In  1909,  work  was  begun  on  the  new  brick  church.  For 
various  reasons  work  has  been  delayed,  and  the  church  is  yet  in  an 
unfinished  condition.  It  is  estimated  that  the  cost  of  the  new  church 
will  approximate  $25,000. 

The  former  pastors  of  this  church  have  been  as  follows:  Revs.  L, 
S.  Brown,  John  Friend,  R.  B.  Trimble,  F.  A.  Sword,  C.  W.  Mar- 
low,  C.  S.  Townley,  E.  W.  Simmons,  W.  G.  McColley,  Clark  Braden, 
L.  D.  Hill,  W.  F.  Wieland,  R.  A.  Sickles  and  Mr.  Carpenter.  Rev. 
Frank  Thompson  is  the  present  pastor. 


The  Cairo  Baptist  Church  was  organized  on  Monday  evening, 
Oct.  26,  1880.  The  council  was  composed  of  Rev.  W.  F.  Kone, 
of  Huntsville,  Ala.,  and  Revs.  Geo.  L.  Talbert  and  A.  J.  Hess,  of 
Columbus,  Ky.  The  organizers  were  George  W.  Strode,  Mrs.  Mary 
P.  Strode,  C.  B.  S.  Pennebaker,  Isaac  N.  Smith,  Mrs.  Louise  E. 
Smith,  A.  J.  Alden,  Mrs.  B.  E.  Alden,  Hasen  Leighton,  Mrs.  Sarah 
E.  Parks,  Mrs.  M.  J.  Dewey,  Mrs.  Martha  Whitaker,  Mrs.  William 
Martin,  W.  C.  Augur,  Mrs.  Julia  C.  Augur,  Mrs.  N.  E.  Caster,  and 
Mrs.  Sarah  S.  Stickney.  Elder  A.  J.  Hess  was  the  first  pastor  and 
remained  until  January,  1883.  Elder  A.  W.  McGaha  served  as 
pastor  from  March,  1883,  to  October,  1883.  He  was  succeeded  by  Elder 
John  F.  Eden,  who  remained  one  year. 

The  church  was  without  a  regular  pastor  from  Elder  Eden's  de- 
parture until  June,  1886,  when  Elder  A.  J.  Brown  v/as  secured,  and 
he  continued  as  pastor  until  June,  1887.  In  September,  1887,  Elder 
R.  H.  McNemer  took  pastoral  charge  and  remained  four  years.  Elder 
W.  B.  Morris  was  next  in  service,  and  served  the  church  from  August, 
1 89 1,  to  October,  1893.  Elder  Geo.  P.  Hoster  was  pastor  from  March, 
1894,  to  September,  1897;  Elder  W.  Sanford  Gee,  D.  D.,  from  Jan- 
uary, 1898,  to  January,  1903;  and  Elder  T.  J.  Porter,  from  April, 
1903,  to  September,  1906.  The  present  pastor.  Elder  S.  C.  Ohrum, 
assumed  charge  in  Januar_v,   1907. 

Soon  after  the  church  was  organized,  the  trustees  purchased  the 
Turner  Hall  property,  a  frame  building  and  three  lots  on  the  north- 
east corner  of  Tenth  and  Poplar  Streets  for  $2,500.00. 


CHURCHES  145 


The  building  was  converted  into  a  church  edifice  and  so  used  until 
1894,  when  it  was  removed  to  the  rear  of  the  lots  and  a  new  brick 
church  erected. 

On  June  8,  1897,  a  fire  destroyed  the  frame  house  and  left  only  a 
portion  of  the  walls  of  the  brick  building.  The  brick  church  was  re- 
constructed during  the  fall  and  winter  of  1897,  and  was  opened  for 
worship  on  January  i,  1898.  In  the  spring  of  1903,  the  church  pur- 
chased a  house  and  lot  on  Poplar  Street,  adjoining,  and  remodeled  the 
building  for  a  parsonage.  In  1 908-9,  an  annex  was  built  to  the  church 
at  a  cost  of  $7,000.00.  A  fine  pipe  organ  was  placed  in  the  church 
in  January,  19 10,  at  a  cost  of  $2,000.00. 

The  present  officers  of  the  church  are:  Trustees,  C.  B.  S.  Penne- 
baker.  Dr.  A.  A.  Bondurant  and  George  A.  Hilburn;  clerk,  F.  W. 
Cox;  and  treasurer,  John  C.  Gholson.  The  present  membership  is 
about  400. 


The  Calvary  Baptist  Church. — This  church  was  organized  Sep- 
tember 8,  1897,  in  the  hall  room  of  the  Hibernian  Engine  House  at 
the  corner  of  Washington  Avenue  and  Douglas  Street,  by  Elder  J.  W. 
Hunsaker,  of  Anna,  as  moderator,  and  Elder  E.  B.  Sullivan,  pastor  of 
the  Lake  Milligan  church,  as  clerk,  and  assisted  by  J.  B.  Anderson, 
F.  D.  Atherton,  and  W.  R.  Lane,  as  Deacons,  also  of  the  Lake  Milli- 
gan church.  Eighty-one  persons  became  members  at  the  organization — 
charter  members,  as  they  are  sometimes  called — almost  all  of  them  being 
M'ell-known  citizens  of  Cairo.  Quite  a  majority  of  these  persons  had 
been  members  of  the  Cairo  Baptist  church,  the  first  Baptist  church 
organized  in  the  city,  whose  church  building  is  at  the  corner  of  Tenth 
and  Poplar  Streets. 

The  following  named  ministers  have  been  pastors  of  the  Calvary 
church,  for  the  times  stated:  The  Rev.  Geo.  P.  Hoster,  D.  D.,  until 
October,  1900;  the  Rev.  W.  C.  Rutherford  from  thence  until  March, 
1903;  the  Rev.  R.  A.  Sickles  until  August,  1904;  the  Rev.  S.  P.  Ma- 
honey  until  February,  1907;  the  Rev.  L.  D.  Bass,  D.  D.,  until  March, 
1908,  at  which  time  he  was  succeeded  by  the  present  pastor,  the  Rev. 
L.  G.  Graham. 

The  first  board  of  trustees  were  J.  L.  Sarber,  J.  W.  Burns,  and 
F.  W.  Koehler ;  financial  secretary,  J.  A.  Cox ;  treasurer,  W.  F.  Gibson, 
and  church  clerk,  John  C.  Gholson.  The  congregation  continued  to 
worship  in  the  hall  of  the  said  engine  house  until  August,  1898,  when 
they  removed  to  their  new  church  building  at  the  corner  of  Poplar 
and  Sixteenth  Streets. 

The  present  officers,  besides  the  pastor,  are :  J.  A.  Cox,  E.  G.  Hoppe, 
W.  F.  Gibson,  W.  T.  Landon,  T.  W.  Benson,  Henry  H.  Stout,  and 
J.  D.  Gill,  deacons;  trustees,  T.  O.  Webster,  Claude  C.  Stanley, 
and  O.  B.  Archibald;  treasurer,  E.  G.  Hoppe;  clerk,  J.  L.  Benson; 
Sunday-school  superintendent,  J.  E.  Neff;  assistant,  T.  W  Benson. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  secure  any  account  of  the  Southern  Metho- 


146  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

dist  Church,  whose  place  of  worship  is  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city, 
and  hence  its  absence. 

Besides  the  eleven  foregoing  church  organizations,  there  are  also 
eleven  organizations  of  and  for  the  colored  people.  These  are  given 
on  page  20,  of  our  present  city  directory.  Almost  all  of  them  have 
their  own  church  buildings,  some  of  which  are  a  great  credit  to  their 
congregations,  such  as  the  First  Missionary  Baptist  Church,  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Walnut  and  Twelfth  Streets;  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  on  Seventeenth  Street  between  Washington  Avenue  and  Wal- 
nut Street;  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church,  at  the  corner  of  Nineteenth 
and  Walnut  Streets,  and  St.  Michael's  Episcopal  Church,  on  Fourteenth 
Street  betw^een  Washington  Avenue  and  Walnut  Street. 

One  will  see  in  Chapter  XXV  how  the  colored  population  of  the 
city  and  county  has  increased  since  the  year  1861.  They  are  as  likely 
to  remain  here  and  grow  in  number  just  the  same  and  as  long  as  they  do 
further  south.  So  far  as  the  churches  are  concerned,  the  colored  people 
have  received  little  aid  or  guidance  from  the  white  people,  notwith- 
standing their  great  need.  The  former  have  not  repelled  the  latter. 
It  has  been  a  matter  of  aloofness,  rather,  on  the  part  of  the  white  people. 

Cairo  is  a  southern  city,  not  only  geographically  but  racially.  In 
the  latter  respect,  it  is  not  much  more  likely  to  change  than  in  the 
former.  The  colored  people  are  here  to  stay,  just  as  they  are  through- 
out the  South.  The  situation  is  not  of  our  nor  of  their  making.  To 
make  the  best  of  it,  both  races  should  do  all  that  can  be  reasonably 
expected  of  them.  The  white  people  claim  to  be  the  superior  race. 
Let  them  prove  their  superiority  by  showing  that  they  can  do  more 
than  the  other  race  for  the  situation,  concededly  more  or  less  difficult 
and  embarrassing.  If  the  colored  people  of  our  city,  with  all  the  advan- 
tages of  education  provided  for  them  by  the  white  people,  if  they,  their 
church  members  and  preachers  included,  have  been  bought  and  sold 
at  election  times  until  the  elective  franchise  in  their  hands  seems  to  be 
a  travesty,  they  can  very  truthfully  reply  that  the  white  people,  the 
office-seekers  and  the  so-called  politicians,  have  been  their  purchasers. 
Whatever  may  be  said  of  their  weakness  or  of  their  ignorance  or  of 
their  poverty,  one  thing  at  least  can  be  safely  said,  and  that  is,  quite 
too  many  white  people  among  us  have  sought  by  the  use  of  money  and 
other  like  inducements  to  take  advantage  of  their  weakness,  their  ig- 
norance, and  their  poverty.  Too  much  of  the  influence  of  the  white 
race  upon  the  colored  has  been  debasing  instead  of  elevating.  More 
to  the  same  effect  and  tenor  might  be  said,  but  the  above  is  broad 
enough  to  sustain  very  many  specific  charges. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  colored  people  have  scarcely  furnished  any 
kind  of  a  man  or  leader  to  rise  up  and  utter  a  protest  that  would  reach 
the  ears  of  his  own  people  or  those  of  the  other  race.  Few  white  people 
seek  to  help  them  and  they  seem  to  be  \\athout  any  real  leaders  to  con- 
duct them  on  to  a  better  state  of  things.     What  they  most  need  seems 


CHURCHES  147 


to  be  protection  against  office  seekers.  Self-protection  is  best  and  most 
needed.  But  it  is  scarcely  to  be  hoped  for.  Is  it  not  clear  that  this 
rising  up  and  protesting  against  the  widespread  venality  of  our  elections 
should  come  first  from  us  who  are  most  at  fault? 

There  are  a  large  number  of  worthless  and  debased  negroes  in  our 
population.  The  occurrence  of  last  November,  resulting  in  the  lynch- 
ing of  James,  should  not  be  unduly  charged  to  the  colored  race;  but 
the  demeanor  of  a  great  many  of  them  as  exhibited  just  following  the 
crime  and  during  the  presence  of  the  soldiers  here  indicated  quite  too 
much  a  sort  of  indifference  to  the  situation  instead  of  indignation 
against  the  crime  and  the  criminal.  It  will  be  well  for  both  peoples, 
especially  for  the  colored  people,  to  observe  that  the  experiences  of  our 
city  during  the  last  eight  or  ten  months  have  separated  them  still  further 
apart.  It  has  come  to  be  generally  believed  that  the  white  women  of 
the  city  must  exercise  more  care.  There  may  be  a  little  more  risk  or 
danger  than  during  years  past,  but  the  one  dreadful  occurrence  has 
effected  a  great  and  perhaps  a  needed  change.  It  is  very  manifest  that 
this  whole  matter  to  which  I  have  thus  briefly  alluded  furnishes  an 
important  not  to  say  a  striking  lesson  to  both  races  in  our  community-, 
more  especially  to  the  colored  race  or  people,  who  perhaps  find  them- 
selves quite  too  often  the  greater  sufferers. 

Note. — A  number  of  the  sketches  of  the  churches,  contained  in  this  chapter, 
were  prepared,  at  my  request,  by  members  of  the  organizations.  I  asked  for 
very  condensed  statements;  hence  their  brevity.  I  may  also  here  state  that  the 
church  property  of  St.  Patrick's  Church  represents  an  expenditure  of  not  less 
than  fifty  thousand  dollars,  that  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  about  thirty 
thousand,  that  of  the  Cairo  Baptist  of  about  twenty  thousand,  and  that  of  St. 
Joseph's  Church,  including  its  school  property,  of  fifty-five  thousand. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  SCHOOLS  OF  THE  CITY 

DURING  the  existence  of  the  Holbrook  administration  from  1836 
to  1842,  when  the  population  of  the  town  ranged  from  less 
than  a  hundred  to  two  thousand  people,  there  were  no  doubt 
one  or  two  schools  in  Cairo.  They  were  private  schools,  sustained  by 
the  individual  subscriptions  of  the  parents  of  the  pupils.  We  have  not 
been  able  to  find  any  record  or  writing  about  such  schools;  but  Mr. 
Moses  B.  Harrell,  in  his  short  history  of  1864,  names  one  or  two  indi- 
viduals who  taught  school  here  then.  As  in  many  other  cases,  a  very 
thorough  search  would  no  doubt  bring  to  light  information  now  deemed 
as  non-existent;  but  it  is  quite  impossible  to  devote  more  than  a  reason- 
able amount  of  time  and  labor  to  going  over  and  through  sources  which 
might  be  supposed  possibly  to  contain  historical  facts  of  some  impor- 
tance. We  must  gather  diligently  that  we  may  have  the  opportunity 
of  choice,  and  we  must  sift  carefully  that  the  best  only  may  be  preserved. 

We  have  a  fairly  full  record  of  what  was  done  for  the  maintenance 
of  schools  in  Cairo  commencing  with  the  year  1853.  Much  of  it  is 
found  in  a  large  book  called  the  "Journal,"  containing  pages  632,  which 
was  opened  for  the  Trustees  of  Schools  for  that  year  by  Mr.  Moses  B. 
Harrell  their  treasurer  and  secretary.  The  Trustees  were  Bailey  S. 
Harrell,  William  Dickey  and  P.  Corcoran.  At  the  commencement  of 
that  year  they  had  no  school-house,  and  their  first  step  was  to  apply  to 
the  legislature  for  leave  to  use  the  interest  on  the  funds  obtained  by  the 
sale  of  school  lands  above  town  for  the  erection  of  a  school  house  "for 
the  inhabitants  of  the  township."  On  the  lOth  day  of  Februarj^  1853, 
the  legislature  passed  the  act  they  requested ;  but  it  required  the  Trus- 
tees to  conform  to  section  81  of  the  act  of  February  12,  1849,  which 
provided  that  when  the  trustees  desired  to  have  a  school-house  built 
they  should  have  a  public  meeting  of  the  voters  and  ascertain  their 
wishes  in  regard  to  the  matter.  This  was  done,  and  on  the  21st  day 
of  May,  1853,  the  voters  assembled  and  held  their  meeting,  of  which 
Samuel  S.  Taylor  was  the  chairman  and  J.  J.  Rutter  the  secretarj-. 
The  resolution  drawn  up  and  offered  for  the  building  of  the  school- 
house  at  the  cost  of  not  exceeding  five  hundred  dollars,  was  unanimously 
adopted;  and  on  the  31st  day  of  May,  1853,  Bryan  Shannessy  was 
given  the  contract  to  build  a  school-house,  twenty-five  by  forty-five 
feet  and  twelve  feet  high,  for  five  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars. 
The  specifications  for  the  building,  furniture,  etc.,  are  all  found  set  out 
in  full  in  the  said  Journal,  as  are  also  the  notices  and  all  other  proceed- 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  THE  CITY 149 

ings.  Shannessey  was  required  by  the  written  contract  to  complete 
the  house  by  the  15th  of  October,  1853. 

The  trustees,  Bailey  S.  Harrell,  William  Dickey  and  P.  Corcoran, 
on  the  27th  of  August,  of  the  same  year,  entered  into  a  contract  with 
Charles  T.  Lind  to  teach  the  school  for  one  year,  commencing  Septem- 
ber 1st,  for  six  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars,  payable  in  quarterly 
instalments.  He  was  to  furnish  all  the  fuel,  and  was  to  insure  the 
house  for  one  jear  for  the  use  of  the  trustees.  He  taught  the  school 
and  was  paid,  as  required  by  the  contract.  The  record  of  all  these  pro- 
ceedings, as  entered  in  the  said  Journal,  shows  that  the  school-house 
was  to  be  built  upon  a  lot  to  be  donated  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo 
City  Property.  The  deed  was  made  December  22,  1853,  the  day  before 
the  Peter  Stapleton  and  John  Howley  deeds  were  made  for  lots  down 
on  Third  Street  near  Commercial  Avenue,  and  is  for  lot  numbered 
thirty,  in  block  numbered  forty-seven,  in  the  city  of  Cairo.  It  is 
on  the  north  side  of  Eleventh  Street  about  one  hundred  and  fift>'  feet 
east  of  Walnut  Street.  The  building  at  this  time  standing  there  and 
used  for  colored  children  is  the  same  one  contracted  for  and  built  in 
1853;  and  the  first  school  taught  therein  was  by  Charles  T.  Lind, 
commencing  September  i,  1853.  It  has  been  used  almost  continuously 
for  the  long  period  of  fift.v-six  years.  Few  of  us  know  of  the  memories 
and  associations  connected  with  the  little  building.  We  must  call  at- 
tention, however,  to  the  strong  provision  in  the  deed  to  the  effect  that 
the  lot  was  convej-ed  to  the  Trustees  of  Schools  of  the  township  "  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  and  maintaining  a  common  school  in  the 
city  of  Cairo,"  and  for  no  other  purpose  or  use  whatsoever  and  only  so 
long  as  the  same  should  be  used  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  district 
for  said  purpose  and  use  aforesaid  and  no  longer.  While  this  restricted 
use  is  stated  in  strong  language,  there  is  no  provision  or  language  for 
its  reversion  to  the  grantors  or  any  one  else  in  case  it  should  be  used 
for  other  than  school  purposes.  The  whole  of  the  property  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  was  sold  in  1876  and  a  new  trust 
formed,  called  the  Cairo  Trust  Property'.  We  do  not  remember  that 
the  decrees  and  conveyances  made  at  this  time  provided  in  any  way 
that  reversionary  interests  in  property  like  this  should  go  to  the  new 
trust  or  to  any  one  else;  and  we  venture  to  say  that  it  is  highly  prob- 
able that  the  Trustees  of  Schools  now  have  and  hold  an  absolute  and 
indefeasible  title  to  the  said  lot,  and  that  they  may  deal  with  it  as  with 
any  real  estate  conveyed  to  them  without  any  conditions  whatsoever. 

The  record  book  above  spoken  of,  called  the  "Journal,"  contains 
nothing  more  regarding  the  emplo_vment  of  teachers.  It  seems  that 
there  M'ere  no  school  directors  at  that  time  and  that  the  trustees  acted 
as  directors.  We  have  found  a  number  of  old  schedules  kept  by  teach- 
ers, beginning  with  the  year  1855.  Some  of  the  teachers  seem  to  have 
been  employed  for  two  or  three  or  more  j'ears.  We  give  their  names 
up  to  the  year  1865,  although  it  may  be  there  were  some  whose  names 
we  have  not  obtained. 

Some  time  ago  I  had  prepared  a  number  of  pages  in  outline,  expecting 


150  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

to  fill  the  blanks  therein  with  information  I  supposed  I  could  easil}'^ 
obtain.  The  pages  commenced  with  the  Douglas  School  building  on 
Walnut  Street  between  Douglas  and  Fourteenth  Streets,  which  was 
erected  in  1864  by  Messrs.  Rankin,  Wood  and  Wickwire,  under  the 
supervision  of  directors  Daniel  Hurd,  William  J.  Yost  and  Moses  B. 
Harrell,  and  came  on  up  to  the  Elmwood  School  building,  erected  in 
1908-1909  by  Mr.  Frank  Ferguson,  under  the  supervision  of  Mr. 
Casper  Kusener,  architect,  and  the  Board  of  Education,  composed  of 
the  Hon.  Walter  Warder,  president,  Edward  L.  Gilbert,  H.  H.  Halli- 
day,  P.  H.  Smyth,  Mary  B.  Wenger,  E.  D.  Carey,  J.  H.  Galligan, 
Anna  G.  White,  C.  B.  S.  Pennebaker  and  W.  F.  Gibson;  but  I  have 
found  it  so  difficult  to  obtain  the  necessary  information  that  I  have  not 
been  able  to  complete  the  statements.  Mr.  Edward  L.  Gilbert,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  present  board,  and  for  many  years  its  secretary,  informed 
me  that  he  had  made  a  long  and  diligent  search  but  could  not  find  the 
record  or  minute  book  or  books  of  the  board  prior  to  April,  igo2,  at 
which  time  the  present  book  began.  I  regret  this  very  much ;  for  the 
people  of  Cairo  have  taken  a  very  great  interest  in  their  public  schools, 
and  I  desired  to  embrace  in  this  history  as  much  concerning  them  as 
their  importance  would  seem  to  require.  Not  being  able  to  present  a 
reasonably  full  account,  I  have  thought  best  not  to  undertake  to  present 
one  in  a  very  imperfect  form. 

The  members  of  the  board  from  its  establishment,  almost  forty 
years  ago,  have  uniformly  endeavored  to  do  the  very  best  they  possibly 
could  for  the  people  of  the  city  in  the  support  and  maintenance  of  our 
schools. 

There  has  been  a  steady  and  wholesome  growth  in  the  schools  all 
the  time.  The  expense  of  their  maintenance  has  been  comparatively 
large,  not  to  say  heavy,  especially  when  the  ordinary  expenses  have  had 
to  be  increased  by  large  svims  required  for  new  buildings.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  expenditures  have  been  larger  because  of  the  fact  that 
the  colored  people  are  not  possessed  of  property  subject  to  taxation  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  meet  what  would  be  regarded  as  their  proportionate 
share  of  the  burden  under  ordinary  circumstances.  The  white  people 
have  had  in  large  measure  to  maintain  schools  for  both  races.  The  law 
made  it  their  duty,  and  it  is  only  simple  justice  to  them  to  have  it  said 
that  they  have  cheerfully  borne  the  burden  of  the  additional  expense. 
If  there  has  ever  been  any  lack  upon  the  part  of  our  boards  of  educa- 
tion to  discharge  fully  the  duties  owed  by  the  public  to  the  colored 
people  we  do  not  know  when  it  has  occurred.  All  our  citizens  have 
felt  that  it  was  a  matter  of  very  great  importance  that  all  of  the  children 
in  the  city,  without  distinction  of  race,  should  be  afforded  ample  op- 
portunity for  securing  an  education.  They  have  looked  upon  it  as 
absolutely  necessary  in  any  view  that  might  be  taken  of  the  needs  of 
the  city  and  the  public  at  large.  Under  these  circumstances,  with  so 
large  a  proportion  of  colored  people  in  the  city,  our  boards  of  education 
have  had  no  easy  task  to  perform.  They  have  endeavored  to  please, 
so  far  as  it  was  in  their  power,  both  the  white  and  the  colored  people, 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  THE  CITY  151 

the  latter  of  whom  have  at  times  made  complaints,  but  it  is  believed 
that  in  very  few  cases,  if  any  at  all,  was  there  any  just  ground  for  dis- 
satisfaction. 

It  was  not  until  the  year  1865  that  the  directors  chose  a  superin- 
tendent of  schools.  Our  first  superintendent  of  schools  was  Mr.  E.  A. 
Angel,  who  had  charge  of  the  schools  from  the  summer  of  1865  to  the 
summer  of  1866.  The  superintendents  succeeding  him  with  the  terms 
of  service  are  as  follows:  E.  P.  Burlingham,  1866- 1869;  Joel  G. 
Morgan,  1869-1870;  H.  S.  English,  1870-1871;  W.  H.  Raymond, 
1871-1872;  George  G.  Alvord,  1872-1881  ;  M.  Biglev,  1881-1882;  E. 
S.  Clark,  1882-1883;  B.  F.  Armitage,  1883-1886;  and  Taylor  C. 
Clendenen,  1886  to  the  present  time,  a  period  of  twenty-four  years. 
Of  these  nine  superintendents,  whose  services  have  extended  over  a 
period  of  forty-five  years,  only  four  served  more  than  one  year.  They 
were  E.  P.  Burlingham,  three  years;  Prof.  Alvord,  nine  years;  Prof. 
Armitage,  three  years,  and  Prof.  Clendenen,  twenty-four  years  as  above 
stated  Prof.  English  died  here  while  superintendent.  Only  a  very 
few  of  our  people  remember  Professors  Angel,  English  and  Raymond. 
Professors  Burlingham  and  Alvord  are  remembered  by  a  great  many. 
Prof.  Burlingham  seemed  to  be  a  great  favorite  with  all  the  teachers 
and  the  pupils.  He  seemed  to  have  given  character  to  the  schools, 
which  continued  for  some  time.  It  was  of  a  kind  that  seemed  to  meet 
with  pretty  general  approval,  but  was  somewhat  criticized  by  others. 
It  was  remarked  that  on  all  public  occasions  his  pupils  appeared  to 
great  advantage.  This  was  true,  but  I  do  not  suppose  that  persons 
so  speaking  of  the  schools  meant  to  imply  that  they  were  in  any  other 
respects  inferior.  Prof.  Alvord,  here  nine  years,  seemed  to  impress 
upon  the  schools  something  of  his  own  individuality.  He  was  a  re- 
markably affable  and  well-appearing  man,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that 
under  his  supervision  the  schools  w^ere  well  conducted.  Mrs.  Alvord 
was  a  very  talented  lady  and  a  fine  teacher.  Prof.  Armitage  left  us 
and  went  to  Mattoon  in  1886.  He  was  also  liked  very  much,  but  for 
reasons  of  health,  I  believe,  he  desired  to  go  elsewhere.  Prof.  Clen- 
denen has  been  here  almost  three  times  as  long  as  any  of  the  former 
superintendents.  This  speaks  much  more  for  him  than  anything  I 
might  say.  He  has  gone  forward,  year  after  year,  in  his  own  way  of 
management  and  according  to  his  best  judgment,  and  that  he  has  been 
successful  in  his  long  and  arduous  work,  no  one  can  doubt.  No  one 
knows  better  than  the  superintendent  what  the  duties  are  which  such 
a  position  imposes.  To  have  been  at  the  head  of  schools,  such  as  we 
have  had  here  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  with  the  children  of  the  two 
races  to  be  educated  and  trained,  signifies  hard  and  exacting  work  and 
faithful  service. 

The  names  of  the  present  Board  of  Education  are  as  follows:  H. 
H.  Hallida3%  President;  Edward  L.  Gilbert,  Secretary;  Mary  B. 
Wenger,  Anna  G.  White,  C.  B.  S.  Pennebaker,  James  H.  Galligan, 
W.  F.  Gibson,  Walter  Wood,  W.  M.  Hurt,  P.  T.  Langan,  Herman 


152 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

C.  Schuh  and  J.  J.  Rendleman.  The  names  of  the  present  teachers  in 
the  public  schools  are  as  follows:  Superintendent,  Taylor  C.  Clen- 
denen;  Supervisor  of  Music,  Laura  A.  Miller;  Supervisor  of  Drawing, 
Pauline  Vanderburgh.  Cairo  High  School:  J.  Earl  Midkiff,  Com- 
mercial; Margaret  Wilson,  English;  Elizabeth  Smith,  History;  G. 
Pearl  Mulberry,  Domestic  Science;  Clara  B.  Way,  Latin;  C.  O. 
Gittinger,  Mathematics;  Sheldon  R.  Allen,  Manual  Training;  Maude 
Hastings,  Latin  and  English;  and  E.  H.  Carlson,  Science.  Douglas 
School:  Henry  E.  Alvis,  Principal;  assistants,  Margaret  Leuschen , 
Zulima  M.  Smith,  Allie  Chambers,  Ethel  Barry,  Reta  Cohn,  Jennie 
E.  Dewey,  and  Anna  Riley  Redman.  Safford  School:  Ella  Hogan, 
Principal;  assistants,  Maude  Ehlman,  Pearl  Cohen,  Julia  Farrin, 
Maude  Palmer  and  Carrie  J.  Miller.  Lincoln  School:  I.  H.  Hook, 
Principal;  assistants,  Laura  I.  Milford,  Katherine  Walbaum,  Alice 
Wenger ,  Emma  Carey ,  Bessie  Batterton ,  Helen  Lippitt  and  Frances 
W.  Bennett.  Elmwood  School:  Ralph  W.  Jackson,  Principal;  assist- 
ants, Mabel  Lancaster,  Margaret  Whitaker,  Ella  Armstrong  Blauvelt 
and  Ellen  B.  Fisher.     Woodside  School:  Delia  Hurst. 

Sumner  High  School:  John  C.  Lewis,  Principal;  Ben  H.  Mosby, 
English,  History,  and  Athletics;  Mabel  C.  Warrick,  History  and 
Domestic  Science;  assistants,  Cordelia  O.  Lewis,  Eva  C.  Self,  Mattie 
E.  Guy  Lott,  F.  F.  Bowlar,  Alma  Partee,  Lydia  Amos,  Lida  Tyler, 
and  Ida  M.  Bedford.  Garrison  School:  Emma  L.  Minnis,  Myra  V. 
Scott,  Josie  Ruffin  and  Nancy  A.  Bugg.  Greeley  School:  Ernestine 
Jenkins,  Principal;  assistants.  Azalea  Dumas,  Georgia  Bugg  and  Ara- 
minta  Taylor.  Bruce  School:  H.  S.  Sanders,  Principal;  assistants, 
Edmonia  A.  Watkins  and  Amelia  Pearson.  Phillips  School:  Hannah 
M.  Harper. 

During  the  last  thirty  or  more  years,  there  have  also  been  one  or 
more  private  schools  in  the  city.  For  many  years  the  Catholics  main- 
tained a  "  Female  Academy  of  the  Sisters  of  Loretto."  The  prospec- 
tus of  the  institution  will  be  found  in  the  "Cairo  Morning  News"  of 
September,  1864,  setting  forth  that  the  institution  would  open  on  the 
first  Monday  in  October.  They  purchased  block  seventy-eight  in  the 
First  Addition  to  the  city  of  Cairo  and  erected  on  the  westerly  end 
thereof  excellent  buildings  for  their  school  purposes.  It  was  patronized 
largely  by  Cairo  people  and  also  by  many  persons  living  in  the  adja- 
cent parts  of  the  country.  It  was  discontinued  many  years  ago,  but 
for  what  reasons  I  am  not  able  to  state.  It  may  have  been  because  of 
the  influence  and  growing  strength  of  other  similar  institutions  which 
drew  from  the  same  fields  of  support. 

The  Germans  also  maintained  for  many  years  a  school  for  the 
teaching  of  German  to  their  own  children  and  such  others  as  their 
parents  desired  to  send  to  their  school.  The  Catholics  have  always 
had  one  or  more  private  schools,  and  they  have  now  two  flourishing 
schools,  the  one  under  the  care  of  St.  Patrick's  church,  and  the  other 
under  the  care  of  St.  Joseph's  church. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE    A.     B.     SAFFORD    MEMORIAL     LIBRARY — ST.     MARY's    INFIRMARY — 
THE     UNITED     STATES     MARINE     HOSPITAL 

THE  Woman's  Club  and  Library  Association  was  organized  in 
1875,  and  in  1877  it  established  a  subscription  library  in  one  of 
the  rooms  of  what  is  now  the  First  Bank  and  Trust  Company 
Building.  In  1882,  the  club  tendered  the  library  to  the  city  for  the  use 
of  the  people  as  a  free  library;  and  the  city,  highly  appreciating  the 
offer  thus  made,  accepted  the  same  by  the  passage  of  ordinance  No.  88, 
July  I,  1882,  entitled  "An  ordinance  to  establish  and  maintain  a 
public  library  and  reading  room  in  the  City  of  Cairo,  for  the  use  and 
benefit  of  the  inhabitants  of  said  city," — and  July  6,  1882,  Mayor 
Thistlewood  appointed  the  following  named  persons  members  of  the 
board  of  directors:  Mrs.  Anna  E.  Safford,  Mrs.  Henry  H.  Candee, 
Mrs.  William  R.  Smith,  Mrs.  Philander  W.  Barclay,  Mrs.  P.  A. 
Taylor,  and  Rev.  Benjamin  Y.  George,  the  Hon.  William  H.  Green, 
Mr.  William  P.  Halliday,  and  Mr.  Wood  Rittenhouse. 

Mrs.  Safford,  seeing  the  great  need  of  a  suitable  home  for  the  new 
public  library  and  earnestly  desiring  to  honor  the  memory  of  her 
deceased  husband,  Mr.  Alfred  B.  Safford,  purchased  the  easterly  end 
of  block  forty-two,  fronting  tv^^o  hundred  feet  on  Washington  Avenue, 
i6th  and  17th  Streets,  had  the  ground  filled  to  the  city  grade, 
erected  thereon  the  present  handsome  library  building,  and  at  once 
conveyed  the  property  to  the  city  for  the  purpose  for  which  the  first 
gift  was  made.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  October  30,  1883,  by  the 
Alexander  Lodge  I.  O.  O.  F.,  of  which  Mr.  Safford  had  long  been 
an  earnest  and  honored  member.  The  building  was  dedicated  July 
19,  1884,  on  which  occasion  Mrs.  Safford  delivered  an  interesting 
address,  at  the  conclusion  of  which  she  tendered  the  property  to  the 
city.  The  same  was  accepted  on  behalf  of  the  city  by  the  Hon. 
Thomas  W.  Halliday,  mayor,  in  a  very  appropriate  address  of  thanks. 
On  the  tablet,  set  in  the  wall  on  the  stairway,  is  the  following  inscription  : 
"This  A.  B.  Safford  Memorial  Library  Building  was  erected  in  mem- 
ory of  Alfred  B.  Safford,  born  Januan^  22,  1822,  died  July  26,  1877, 
by  his  wife,  Anna  E.  Safford,  A.  D.  1883." 

At  the  time  of  the  gift  of  the  library  to  the  city,  it  contained  1583 
volumes.  At  the  present  time,  it  contains  16,157  volumes.  The  library 
occupies  the  south  side  of  the  main  floor,  and  across  the  hall  are  the 
reading  and  reference  rooms.  The  lecture  hall  on  the  south  side  of 
the  second  floor  is  a  fine  room.  The  north  side  of  this  floor  is  occu- 
pied by  the  museum  and  club  room  of  the  Woman's  Club. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  such  an  institution  which  has  been  more 

^53 


^54 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

useful  to  the  community  in  which  it  exists.  The  people  of  the  city 
regard  it  as  one  of  the  greatest  means  of  education  and  entertainment 
which  could  in  any  way  have  been  procured  for  them.  They  look 
upon  the  building  and  beautiful  grounds  as  a  great  credit  not  only 
to  the  donor  and  the  city  but  in  a  measure  to  themselves.  This  is 
due  no  doubt  to  the  fact  that  the  property  is  the  gift  of  one  of  our 
own  citizens  whom  they  esteem  so  highly.  Mrs.  Safford  in  erecting 
this  memorial  to  her  husband  has  erected  in  the  hearts  of  the  people 
of  Cairo  an  equally  enduring  memorial. 

The  present  directors  of  the  library  are:  Mrs.  Anna  E,  Safford, 
president;  Michael  J.  Howley,  vice-president;  Mrs.  Samuel  White, 
secretary;  Mrs.  Walter  H.  Wood,  Mrs.  Isabella  L.  Candee,  Mrs. 
Kate  F.  Miller,  Reed  Green,  Herman  C.  Schuh  and  Philander  C. 
Barclay.  Mrs.  P.  E.  Powell,  the  librarian,  has  held  this  position 
continuously  since  the  establishment  of  the  librarj^  as  a  public  insti- 
tution. Misses  Effie  A.  Lansden  and  Marie  C.  Glauber  are  her 
assistants. 

The  Woman's  Club  and  Library  Association,  as  above 
stated,  was  organized  in  1875.  Its  charter  members  were  Mesdames 
Anna  E.  Safford,  Isabella  L.  Candee,  Kate  B.  Gilbert,  Charles  Thrupp, 
Phillip  H.  Howard,  Charles  Pink,  Amarala  Martin,  Carrie  S.  Hud- 
son, John  H.  Oberly,  Horace  Wardner,  William  R.  Smith,  Cath- 
erine C.  E.  Goss,  William  Winter,  Samuel  P.  Wheeler,  Al  Sloo,  and 
C.  C.  Alvord.  The  first  ofEcers  were  Mrs.  Oberly,  president;  Pvlrs. 
Candee,  vice-president,  and  Mrs.  Goss,  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
the  club.  The  club  was  incorporated  Februray  9,  1877,  under  the 
general  act  of  the  legislature  for  the  incorporation  of  such  bodies.  Mrs. 
Candee,  Mrs.  Goss,  and  Mrs.  Ford  made  the  necessary  certificate  for 
its  incorporation.  The  trustees  for  the  first  year  were  Mrs.  Oberly, 
Mrs.  Smith,  Mrs.  Wardner,  Mrs.  Winter,  Mrs.  SafEord,  and  Mrs. 
Adele  Korsme3'er.     (See  record  book  No.  8,  page  28,  at  the  court-house.) 

I  do  not  know  how  I  can  better  express  the  good  this  club  has 
done  for  the  people  of  the  city  than  by  asking  what  our  condition 
would  now  be  had  it  never  existed.  What  we  could  or  would  have 
had  in  its  place  I  do  not  know.  Perhaps  nothing.  Too  many  of  us 
do  not  stop  to  consider  the  influence  it  has  had  upon  the  people  of  the 
city.  The  roll  of  its  members  is  indeed  an  honored  one.  I  know  of 
nothing  that  can  be  pointed  to,  in  our  city,  which  can  approach  it  in 
this  respect.  They  have  placed  it  upon  a  firm  foundation,  as  enduring, 
I  hope,  as  the  city  itself.  It  will,  I  am  sure,  interest  all  the  members 
of  the  association  to  give  here  the  names  of  the  deceased  members. 
They  are  as  follows: 

Mrs.  Mary  J.  Adams  Mrs.  N.  R.  Casey 

Mrs.  M.  a.  Arter  Mrs.  Jennie  M.  Dewey 

Mrs.  Mary  C.  Barclay  Mrs.  Edith  Ellis 

Miss  Ida  Barrett  Mrs.  Susan  G.  Fisher 

Mrs.  I.  N.  Carver  Mrs.  Emma  B.  Frank 


THE  A.  B.  SAFFORD  MEMORIAL  LIBRARY         155 

Mrs.  Jennie  M.  Galligan  Mrs.  F.  J.  Peter 

Mrs.  C.  C.  E.  Goss  Mrs.  P.  A.  Taylor 

Mrs.  Mamie  H.  Gordon  Mrs.  W.  W.  Thornton 

Mrs.  Emma  Goldsmith  Mrs.  Christine  Woodward 

Mrs.  Annie  Holmes  Mrs.  Adele  Korsmeyer 

Mrs.  John  H.  Oberly  Mrs.  J.  A.  Scarritt 

Mrs.  Ada  V.  Parsons  Mrs.  Herman  Meyers 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Stratton  Mrs.  John  M.  Lansden 

Miss  Hattie  Smith  Mrs.  W.  B.  Gilbert 

Mrs.  Herman  C.  Schuh  jVIrs.  E.  M.  Starzinger 

Mrs.  J.  D.  Ladd 
Nothing  can  stay  this  growing  list;  but  as  name  by  name  is  added 
thereto,    the   honored    roll   will    reflect    honor,    more   and    more,    upon 
the  institution  of  which  they  were  members. 

St.  Mary^s  Infirmary. — In  1861,  on  a  call  from  Governor  Mor- 
ton, of  Indiana,  the  superior  of  the  Order  of  the  Holy  Cross  at  Notre 
Dame  sent  out  sisters  to  act  as  nurses,  some  of  whom  were  stationed 
at  hospitals  at  Cairo  and  Mound  City.  At  the  close  of  the  war, 
many  citizens  of  Cairo,  including  Dr.  Horace  Wardner,  who  had 
been  associated  with  the  sisters  in  their  hospital  work,  urged  the 
Order  to  establish  a  permanent  infirmary  in  the  city;  Mother  Angela, 
then  mother-general  of  the  Order,  came  to  Cairo  in  October,  1867, 
and  with  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Wardner  secured  a  temporary  location 
on  Eleventh  Street,  between  Commercial  Avenue  and  Poplar  Street, 
and  placed  Sister  M.  Augusta  and  Sister  M.  Matilda  in  charge.  On 
January  i,  1868,  they  removed  to  a  larger  building,  known  as  the 
Pilot  House,  on  Washington  Avenue,  where  thie  present  Armory 
building  now  stands.  In  1869,  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Prop- 
erty donated  to  the  Order  block  numbered  eighty-nine,  in  the  First 
Addition  to  the  city,  on  upper  Walnut  Street,  for  hospital  purposes; 
and  that  year  they  erected  a  large  frame  building  thereon,  and  fur- 
nished and  equipped  it  as  St.  Mary's  Infirmary.  In  1870,  Sister 
Augusta  was  recalled  for  promotion,  and  Sister  M.  Edward  succeeded 
her,  and  continued  in  charge  until  the  summer  of  1877,  when  she  was 
succeeded  by  Sister  Anthony.  In  1866,  Sister  Anthony  was  recalled, 
and  Sister  M.  Adela,  who  had  been  an  assistant  in  the  infirmary  for 
some  years,  was  made  superioress. 

In  1892,  a  handsome  three-storj'  brick  addition  was  erected  in 
front  of  the  main  building,  at  a  cost  of  seven  thousand  dollars.  In 
1 901,  the  present  three-story  brick  addition,  extending  almost  the 
entire  width  of  the  block,  was  built  at  a  cost  of  twenty  thousand 
dollars.  Rev.  Charles  J.  Eschman,  then  pastor  of  St.  Patrick's  church, 
superintended  the  construction  of  the  building,  and  the  same  was  dedi- 
cated February  18,  1892,  by  Right  Rev.  John  Janssen,  bishop  of 
Belleville,  assisted  by  the  local  pastors,  Rev.  C.  J.  Eschman,  Rev.  J. 
D.  Diepenbrock  and  by  Rev.  F.  Pieper,  Rev.  William  Van  Delft,  Rev. 
C.  Goeltz  and  Rev.  William  Goeltzhauser. 

The  chapel  in  the  infirmary  was  the  gift  of  Rev.  C.  J.  Eschman,  as 


156  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

were  also  the  altar,  pews,  organ,  and  stained  glass  windows.  Dr.  W. 
F.  Grinstead  has  furnished  two  private  rooms,  a  surgical  ward  and  an 
ambulance,  and  has  also  added  a  new  operating  room  and  furnished 
the  same,  at  the  cost  of  about  two  thousand  dollers,  and  borne  one 
half  the  cost  of  the  fine  and  substantial  iron  fence  around  the  grounds. 
Dr.  W.  C.  Clarke  has  given  a  fine  X-ra}'  apparatus,  as  a  memorai 
to  the  late  Dr.  W.  W.  Stevenson,  who  was  a  strong  friend  of  the 
mfirmary;  among  the  many  others  who  have  remembered  the  institu- 
tion in  a  very  substantial  manner  may  be  named  Dr.  A.  A.  Bondurant, 
Dr.  John  T.  Walsh  and  Dr.  James  McManus,  Mrs.  Eliza  Halliday, 
Mrs.  M.  E.  Feith,  Mr.  John  S.  Aisthorpe,  Mr.  P.  T.  Langan,  Mr. 
Frank  Howe,  and  the  Rhodes-Burford  Company. 

At  present  Sister  M.  Asteria  is  superioress,  besides  whom  there 
are  eighteen  other  sisters  in  the  infirmary.  Five  hundred  and  thirty- 
nine  patients  were  treated  in  the  infirmary  during  the  year  1909.  All 
the  leading  physicians  of  Cairo  comprise  the  medical  staff. 

United  States  Marine  Hospital. — Capt.  John  R.  Thomas,  our 
congressman  in  1882,  procured,  in  that  year,  the  enactment  of  a  law 
appropriating  sixty  thousand  dollars  for  the  purchase  of  grounds  and 
the  erection  of  buildings  for  the  hospital,  and  in  September  of  that 
year,  Surgeon-General  Hamilton  came  here  and  he,  together  with  Mr. 
George  Fisher,  the  surveyor  of  the  port,  and  General  C.  W.  Pavey, 
the  collector  of  internal  revenue,  looked  over  the  city  with  a  view  to 
choosing  a  site  for  the  same.  The  matter  was  not  definitely  decided, 
it  seems,  until  some  time  in  1883,  when  the  present  grounds  between 
Tenth  and  Twelfth  Streets  and  Cedar  Street  and  Jefferson  Avenue 
were  chosen  and  purchased  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  Trust  Prop- 
erty for  the  sum  oi  $14,000.00.  The  grounds  include  seventy- two  lots. 
The  buildings,  practically  as  they  now  stand,  were  finished  in  1885, 
but  the  hospital  was  not  formally  opened  until  some  time  in  Februarj', 
1886.  Up  to  that  time  patients  had  been  taken  care  of  by  the  Sisters 
of  the  Holy  Cross;  and  they  for  a  time  conducted  the  new  hospital, 
under  the  supervision  of  Dr.  Carmichael,  who  was  the  first  surgeon 
in  charge.  The  names  of  the  surgeons  and  passed  assistant  surgeons 
in  charge  are  as  follows:  Duncan  A.  Carmichael,  Passed  Assistant, 
January  25,  1885,  to  January  25,  1888;  James  M.  Gassaway,  Surgeon, 
January  25,  1888,  to  June  14,  1890;  Rell  M.  Woodward,  Assistant 
Surgeon,  June  14,  1890,  to  March  18,  1894;  Ezra  K.  Sprague,  Assist- 
ant Surgeon,  March  18,  1894,  to  November  24,  1894;  James  M. 
Gassaway,  Surgeon,  November  24,  1894,  to  July  25,  1897;  Parker 
C.  Kallock,  Surgeon,  July  25,  1897,  to  January  9,  1899;  W.  A. 
Wheeler,  Surgeon,  January  9,  1899,  to  May  4,  1899;  H.  C.  Russell, 
Assistant  Surgeon,  May  4,  1899,  to  December  5,  1899;  John  M.  Holt, 
Assistant  Surgeon,  December  5,  1899,  to  April  25,  1901 ;  James  H. 
Oakley,  Passed  Assistant,  April  25,  1901,  to  June  11,  1903;  Gregorio 
M.  Guiteras,  Surgeon,  June  11,  1903,  to  April  30,  1907;  Julius  O. 
Cobb,  Surgeon,  May  9,  1907,  to  April  22,  1908,  and  Robert  L.  Wilson, 
Passed  Assistant,  April  22,  1908,  to  the  present  time. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  CAIRO  CITY  PROPERTY — THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE 

CAIRO  TRUST  PROPERTY — SOME  OF  THEIR  CIVIL   ENGINEERS — 

CAIRO   NEWSPAPERS 

WITH  the  exception  of  Col.  Samuel  Staats  Taylor,  none  of  the 
Trustees  have  ever  resided  in  Cairo.  All  of  the  others  have  re- 
sided in  New  York  City,  except  Thomas  S.  Taylor,  one  of  the 
first  two,  who  resided  in  Philadelphia.  The  trustees,  or  some  of  them, 
may  have  visited  the  place  now  and  then ;  but  we  have  nowhere  seen  any 
notice  of  the  fact.  Mr.  Miles  A.  Gilbert  was  in  charge  here  from  June, 
1843,  to  April,  1 85 1,  about  eight  years,  although  during  the  last  three 
or  four  years  of  the  time  he  resided  at  St.  Mary's  but  visited  the  place 
from  time  to  time  to  see  that  affairs  were  going  on  properly.  After 
building  the  cross  levee  in  1843,  Mr.  Gilbert  could  not  have  done  a 
great  deal  here  besides  taking  care  of  the  lands  and  other  property  of 
the  Trustees.  It  was  a  period  of  waiting,  and  it  seems  to  have  taken  a 
long  time  to  finish  the  preliminary  work  and  make  the  necessary  sur- 
veys and  plats  for  starting  the  city  again.  Mr.  Gilbert's  lengthy  stay 
here  enabled  him  to  become  perfectly  familiar  with  everything  about 
the  place  during  those  important  years  from  1843  to  1851,  and  had 
we  from  him  a  somewhat  full  and  detailed  account  of  that  period  I 
am  sure  it  would  be  very  interesting.  It  began  with  the  failure  of  the 
Holbrook  administration,  the  ruin  of  business  and  the  dispersion  largely 
of  the  people,  and  ended  with  the  actual  beginning  of  what  is  now  our 
City  of  Cairo. 

We  have  before  remarked  that  no  city  in  the  country  has  been  so 
identified  with  a  land  trust  and  a  corporation  as  has  been  the  City  of 
Cairo  with  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Propert}^  and  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  Company.  The  first  of  the  two  bought  all  of  the  lands 
here  between  the  rivers,  and  the  other  having  had  this  point  made  the 
southern  terminus  of  its  railroad,  the  two  very  properly  undertook  the 
task  of  building  the  city.  The  land  company  owned  nearly  ten  thou- 
sand acres  of  land,  and  depended  chiefly  upon  the  sales  of  the  same  in 
city  lots  for  the  profits  of  their  investment.  The  railroad  company 
could  not  deal  in  lands,  but  to  have  a  prosperous  city  at  its  southern 
terminus  in  Illinois  meant  large  profits  in  the  transportation  business. 
Not  to  dwell  here  and  to  express  the  thought  in  a  word  or  two,  Cairo 
was  their  town,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  I  have  had  so  much  to 
say  about  the  two  in  this  historical  narrative  of  the  place. 

Thomas  S.  Taylor,  of  Philadelphia,  was  Trustee  from  September 
29,   1846,  to  April  6,   1859,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  John  H. 

157 


158  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Wright.  Charles  Davis  was  Trustee  from  September  29,  1846,  to 
September  29,  i860,  when  he  and  Wright  were  succeeded  by  Samuel 
Staats  Taylor  and  Edwin  Parsons.  The  court  and  other  records  here 
seem  to  show  proceedings  for  the  removal  of  both  Davis  and  Taylor 
and  the  matter  as  to  the  former  seems  to  have  been  pending  for  some 
time,  but  I  have  not  deemed  it  of  sufficient  importance  to  search  out 
the  details  and  give  them  here.  We  may  remark,  however,  that  his 
widow,  who  subsequently  married  a  Mr,  Ma3^o,  sued  the  Trustees, 
Samuel  Staats  Taylor  and  Edwin  Parsons,  in  the  United  States  Court 
at  Springfield,  and  recovered  a  judgment  for  $12,957.57.  The  Trus- 
tees appealed  the  case  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  and 
that  court  affirmed  the  judgment  of  the  circuit  court  February  4,  1884. 
The  case,  entitled  "  Taylor  and  Another  vs.  Davis'  administratrix,"  is 
found  in  no  U.  S.  530. 

It  seems  that  on  the  21st  day  of  December,  1875,  Edwin  Parsons 
conveyed  all  his  interest  as  Trustee  to  Samuel  Staats  Taylor.  This 
was  no  doubt  done  as  a  preliminary  step  to  the  subsequent  proceedings 
in  the  United  States  Court  at  Springfield  to  foreclose  the  Ketchum 
mortgages.  The  Trustees  by  authority  of  the  shareholders  issued  bonds 
to  the  amount  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  October,  1863,  and 
secured  the  same  by  the  execution  of  a  mortgage  to  Hiram  Ketchum, 
as  Trustee,  upcn  the  property  of  the  trust;  and  again  in  October,  1867, 
they  issued  other  bonds  to  the  amount  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  and 
secured  the  same  by  another  mortgage  to  the  same  Trustee,  upon  the 
same  lands  and  lots;  and  in  1875,  Charles  Parsons,  who  had  succeeded 
Ketchum  as  Trustee  for  the  bond  holders,  began  his  suit  in  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court  at  Springfield  against  Samuel  Staats  Taylor, 
Trustee,  and  at  the  Januarj-  term  of  the  court,  1876,  a  decree  of  fore- 
closure was  entered,  and  on  the  loth  day  of  May  of  that  year  the 
mortgaged  property,  excepting  such  lots  and  lands  as  had  been  in  the 
meantime  released  from  the  liens  of  the  mortgages,  were  sold  by  Mr. 
John  A.  Jones,  Master  in  Chancery  of  that  court,  to  Charles  Parsons 
as  Trustee  on  behalf  of  the  said  bond  holders.  This  deed  is  recorded 
in  book  7,  on  pages  214,  etc. 

On  the  20th  day  of  June,  1876,  Charles  Parsons,  as  such  Trustee, 
conveyed  the  property'  to  Samuel  Staats  Taydor  and  Edwin  Parsons  as 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  Trust  Property,  and  on  the  same  day  they  as 
individuals  executed  a  declaration  of  trust  showing  that  the  lots,  tracts 
and  parcels  of  land  had  been  conveyed  to  them  for  and  on  behalf  of  the 
uses,  purposes  and  trusts  in  the  said  instrument  set  forth.  This  dec- 
laration of  trust  is  recorded  in  said  book  7,  on  pages  270,  etc.,  and 
shows  that  the  beneficial  interest  in  the  trust  property  was  divided  into 
thirty-six  thousand  (36,000)  shares  of  the  par  value  of  ten  dollars 
each,  but  subject  to  assessment  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  in  the  ag- 
gregate five  dollars  per  share. 

Let  us  recur  for  a  moment  to  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company 
and  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  and  compare  their  respec- 


TRUSTEES  OF  THE  CAIRO  CITY  PROPERTY      159 

tive  high  capitalizations  with  the  capitalization  of  the  Cairo  City  Trust 
Property. 

The  capital  stock  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  was  two 
million  dollars,  divided  into  twenty  thousand  shares,  of  one  hundred 
dollars  each.  The  lands  the  company  owned,  as  the  sole  basis  of  the 
value  of  the  stock,  amounted  to  about  four  thousand  acres.  These 
lands  were  mortgaged  December  16,  1837,  to  the  New  York  Life  In- 
surance and  Trust  Company  to  secure  the  former  company's  bonds, 
from  the  sales  of  which  it  expected  to  obtain  all  the  funds  it  needed 
for  starting  and  establishing  a  city  here.  The  four  thousand  acres 
would  have  to  have  been  worth  five  hundred  dollars  per  acre  to  justify 
a  capitalization  of  two  million  dollars;  but  from  that  day  to  this  the 
property,  exclusive  of  the  city  proper,  has  never  been  worth  any  such 
sum. 

As  before  stated,  this  company  was  succeeded  in  1846  by  the  Cairo 
City  Property  Trust,  which  purchased  more  land,  and  issued  stock 
to  the  amount  of  three  million,  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  half  of 
which  Holbrook  agreed  to  take  in  behalf  of  the  Illinois  Exporting 
Company.  On  November  21,  1850,  ten  thousand  additional  shares 
were  authorized,  thus  making  forty-five  thousand  shares  in  all,  thirty 
thousand  shares  of  which  were  to  be  received  at  par  to  extinguish  the 
liabilities  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  and  to  clear  off  all 
incumbrances;  and  the  remaining  fifteen  thousand  shares  were  to  be 
used  for  the  benefit  of  the  trust  and  for  the  improvement  and  protection 
of  the  property.  Just  what  the  circumstances  were  that  seemed  to 
require  or  justify  this  increase  in  the  stock  we  do  not  know.  It  seems 
to  have  been  a  mere  matter  of  more  water;  and  yet  the  outlook  in 
1850  may  have  been  very  promising.  One  is  almost  amazed  at  the 
extravagant  language  used  by  the  proprietors  in  1818  and  again  in 
1836  and  1837;  but  that  of  the  proprietors  of  1846  seems  to  have 
been  of  the  same  tenor  and  effect.  One  would  suppose  that  twenty 
or  more  years  of  experience  here  with  the  low  site  and  the  ever  threat- 
ening rivers  would  have  tended  to  some  moderation  in  the  description 
of  the  situation.  This  capitalization  in  1846  and  1850  of  four  million, 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars  was  at  the  rate  of  four  to  five  hundred 
dollars  per  acre  for  the  9743  acres. 

We  do  not  get  down  to  anything  like  actual  values  for  safe  capitaliz- 
ing purposes  until  we  reach  the  year  of  1876,  when  the  present  trust 
was  created  and  which  since  June  30,  1876,  has  been  known  as  the  Cairo 
Trust  Property.  While  a  large  number  of  city  lots  had  been  sold  by  the 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  very  small  quantities  of  its  lands 
above  town  had  been  disposed  of  at  the  time  of  the  foreclosure 
of  the  Ketchum  mortgages.  There  was  then  on  hand  almost  all 
of  the  lands,  probably  nearly  seven  thousand  acres,  and  also  the 
wharf  property  and  almost  every  foot  of  the  river  frontage  on  both 
rivers;  and  at  the  time  of  the  sale,   in   the   foreclosure  suit  in   May, 


i6o HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

1876,  there  was  due  upon  the  first  mortgage  of  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  the  sum  of  $39,305.00;  upon  the  second  mortgage  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars  the  sum  of  $58,375.00,  and  there  was  also  due  to  the 
Trustees  about  $27,831.00.  These  sums  made  the  whole  amount  of  the 
indebtedness  for  which  the  remaining  real  estate  was  sold  $125,511. 
At  the  sale  May  10,  1876,  Charles  Parsons,  as  Trustee  for  the  mort- 
gage bond  holders,  bought  the  property  for  $80,000.00  free  and  clear 
of  all  rights  of  redemption.  The  whole  proceeding  from  beginning  to 
end  must  have  been  in  the  nature  of  a  friendly  suit  by  and  for  the 
immediate  parties  in  interest,  otherwise  it  is  hard  to  account  for  the 
absolute  sale  for  $80,000.00,  and  the  immediate  capitalization  of  the 
property  at  many  times  that  amount. 

We  have  before  spoken  of  the  protracted  efforts  of  Holbrook  to 
arrange  for  the  taking  over  of  the  assets  and  estates  of  the  Cairo  City 
and  Canal  Company  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property.  His 
work  culminated  in  the  deed  of  June  13,  1846,  and  the  declaration  of 
trust  of  the  29th  of  the  September  following.  This  trust  instrument 
executed  by  Thomas  S.  Taylor,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Charles  Davis, 
of  New  York  City,  will  be  found  recorded  in  the  book  "  N  "  on  pages 
465,  etc.,  of  our  county  records.  It  is  a  very  interesting  document  made 
sixty-four  years  ago,  and  constituting,  for  all  practical  purposes,  the 
foundation  of  all  our  real  estate  titles.  No  one  now  seeks  to  trace 
his  title  beyond  this  instrument  or  rather  that  of  June  13,  1846.  When 
the  United  States  government,  in  1871,  purchased  from  the  Trustees 
block  thirty-nine  (39),  for  the  erection  of  the  custom-house  and  post- 
office  building,  Colonel  Taylor  was  required  to  make  a  showing  of 
title  beyond  those  instruments,  and  the  same  has  been  required  by  pur- 
chasers in  one  or  two  other  instances. 

The  land  described  as  held  in  trust  amounted  to  9,743.01  acres. 
Something  more  than  half  of  this  was  in  township  sixteen,  most  of 
the  latter  in  Pulaski  County.  The  instrument  described  by  metes  and 
bounds  that  somewhat  noted  ten-acre  tract  of  land,  a  part  of  which 
is  now  embraced  in  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  freight  yards  on  the 
Ohio  River  between  Fourteenth  and  Eighteenth  Streets. 

Let  me  stop  here  and  speak  of  that  ten-acre  tract  of  land.  Jere- 
miah Diller,  on  the  first  day  of  April,  1835.  entered  the  northeast 
fractional  quarter  (5.55  acres),  and  the  east  fractional  half  of  the 
northwest  fractional  quarter  (54-99  acres),  of  section  25-1 7-1  west. 
The  first  tract  lies  in  a  triangle  on  the  Ohio  just  below  the  stone  depot 
of  that  railroad  company,  and  the  other  now  embraces  its  freight  yards 
and  the  Halliday  milling  property,  between  Fourteenth  and  Twentieth 
Streets.  September  14,  1837,  Diller  sold  ten  acres  of  the  last  described 
tract  to  William  Day,  a  captain  of  the  United  States  Army  at  St. 
Louis.  Day  seems  to  have  sold  to  Ethan  A.  Hitchcock,  also  of  the 
United  States  Army  at  St.  Louis,  and  on  the  7th  day  of  August,  1838, 
the  latter  sold  the  ten-acre  tract  to  Elijah  Willard,  commissioner  of 
the  board  of  public  works  of  the  third  judicial  district  of  the  state 
under  the  general  improvement  act  of  February  27,   1837.     The  rail- 


TRUSTEES  OF  THE  CAIRO  CITY  PROPERTY      i6i 

road  enterprises  of  the  state  having  broken  down  within  a  year  or  two, 
the  state  seems  to  have  held  this  ten-acre  tract  of  land  and  the  right- 
of-way  of  the  old  Illinois  Central  Railroad  in  the  county  in  trust  for 
a  number  of  years;  and  finally  in  the  incorporation,  February  lo,  185 1, 
of  the  present  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  it  was  provided  that 
these  lands  should  be  transferred  to  the  latter  company.  The  state, 
had,  some  years  before,  arranged  for  their  conveyance  to  the  Great 
Western  Railway  Company  incorporated  in  1843  and  1849,  to  build 
a  central  railroad. 

It  seems  that  on  the  13th  day  of  July,  1876,  for  the  consideration 
of  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  Samuel  Staats  Taylor,  as  Trustee  of  the 
Cairo  City  Property,  conveyed  certain  property  to  Charles  Parsons, 
trustee  for  the  second  mortgage  bond  holders  of  the  Cairo  City  Property 
and  the  same  is  recorded  in  book  9,  page  193.  On  the  31st  day  of 
October,  1895,  Samuel  Staats  Taylor  conveyed  his  interest  as  Trustee 
under  the  declaration  of  trust  to  Henry  Parsons  and  Edwin  Parsons, 
Trustees;  and  on  the  9th  day  of  November,  1895,  Mary  Llewellyn 
Parsons,  administratrix,  and  Charles  Parsons,  administrator,  conveyed 
to  Henry  Parsons  and  Edwin  Parsons,  as  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  Trust 
Property.  The  instrument  recites  the  death  of  Edwin  Parsons  August 
21,  1895,  and  the  resignation  of  Samuel  Staats  Taylor,  and  that  the 
shareholders  had  chosen  Henry  Parsons  and  Edwin  Parsons,  the  latter 
a  son  of  Mr.  Charles  Parsons,  successors  of  the  said  Samuel  Staats 
Taylor  and  the  former  Edwin  Parsons ;  and  these  gentlemen,  the  cousins 
of  our  present  Mayor,  the  Hon.  George  Parsons,  are  now  the  present 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  Trust  Property  and  have  been  such  since  the  9th 
day  of  November,  1895. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  on  the  13th  day  of  June,  1846,  the  Cairo 
City  and  Canal  Company  conveyed  its  property  to  Thomas  S.  Taylor 
and  Charles  Davis,  Trustees  as  above  stated,  and  that  in  the  following 
September  the  latter  made  the  declaration  of  trust  above  referred  to. 
It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  from  the  formation  of  the  trust  of  the 
Cairo  City  Property  September  29,  1846,  to  the  formation  of  the  trust 
of  the  Cairo  Trust  Property  of  June  20,  1876,  we  have  the  period  of 
about  thirty  years  and  that  from  the  formation  of  the  last  named  trust, 
namely,  the  trust  of  the  Cairo  Trust  Property,  to  the  present  time  we 
have  the  period  of  thirty-four  years.  To  the  public  the  change  in  the 
trust  has  been  wholly  personal.  The  trust  has  been  continuous  from 
September  29,  1846,  to  the  present  time,  a  period  of  sixty-four  years. 
At  the  outset  it  owned  the  whole  country  here,  except  one  or  two  small 
lots  or  tracts  of  land.  It  sold  nothing  until  December,  1853,  since 
which  time  it  has  from  year  to  year  sold  more  or  less  of  its  property. 
For  the  first  few  years  after  1853  many  sales  were  made  and  generally 
for  good,  not  to  say  high,  prices.  Much  of  the  property  on  the  levee 
and  in  other  parts  of  the  town  in  1856  and  1857  sold  for  very  high 
prices.  The  most  desirable  lots  and  property  having  been  sold  within 
the  first  few  years,  the  sales  thereafter  became  fewer  in  number  and  the 


^62 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

prices  very  much  lower.  Prices  advanced  from  time  to  time  as  the  out- 
look for  the  city  became  now  and  then  brighter,  but  as  a  general 
thing,  the  situation  was  not  encouraging  if  we  except  the  stimulus 
which  war  times  gave  the  town.  Many  years  ago  it  became  evident 
that  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  town  had  ceased  largely  to  depend 
upon  the  Trustees  and  that  the  people  must  look  to  themselves  and  make 
the  most  out  of  the  growth  which  the  city  had  attained.  The  trust 
still  owns  a  large  amount  of  property,  the  most  valuable  being,  we 
suppose,  the  levee  and  frontage  along  the  two  rivers,  carrying  an  exclu- 
sive right  to  wharfage  charges.  It  seems  somewhat  remarkable,  if  not 
unfortunate,  that  the  city  nowhere  owns  a  foot  of  river  frontage.  This 
is  a  fair  representation  of  the  city's  environment,  a  cramped  one  indeed ; 
but  it  has  been  that  so  long,  that  were  enlargement  or  freedom  to  come 
to  it  now,  it  would  feel  that  somehow  or  other  something  strange  had 
happened  to  it,  and  that  it  was  not  in  its  natural  and  proper  position. 

The  Civil  Engineers  of  the  Trustees. — Going  back  to  1818, 
we  have  elsewhere  shown  that  the  first  map  or  plat  of  the  City  of  Cairo 
was  probably  made  by  a  Major  Duncan  for  Mr.  John  G.  Comegys 
and  his  associates.  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  anything  concerning 
him  further  than  what  is  said  in  the  Prospectus  of  those  early  pro- 
prietors. 

Coming  on  down  to  1836  and  1837,  ^^'^  ^^^  that  Mr.  James 
Thompson  made  a  survey  and  plat  of  the  township,  an  exact  copy  of  the 
plat  being  found  elsewhere  in  this  book.  The  field  notes  accompanying 
this  plat  or  map  were  very  full  and  complete  indeed.  They  are  part 
of  the  small  book  mentioned  in  Chapter  IV  as  given  me  by  Judge 
Thomas  Hileman.  I  have  not  been  successful  in  ascertaining  whether 
Mr.  Thompson  was  a  resident  of  southern  Illinois  or  of  the  west 
anywhere  or  of  the  east.  I  have  not  made  as  careful  a  search  for  in- 
formation concerning  him  as  I  would  like  to  have  made. 

William  Strickland  and  Richard  R.  Taylor,  both  probably  of  Phila- 
delphia, were  the  first  and  perhaps  only  engineers  and  surveyors  here 
during  the  Holbrook  administration.  The  reader  is  referred  to  other 
parts  of  the  book  for  information  as  to  the  work  done  and  maps  made 
by  them.  They  may  have  done  some  work  before  the  Trustees  of 
the  Cairo  City  Property  came  into  possession  here  about  the  middle 
of  the  year  1846. 

Mr.  Henry  Clay  Long,  a  son  of  Stephen  Harriman  Long,  was  in 
charge  of  the  engineering  department  of  the  Trustees  for  many  years. 
He  seems  to  have  been  an  able  man  in  his  line  of  work  and  profession. 
Other  parts  of  this  book  will  show  much  about  him  and  his  father. 
Col.  Long,  chief  of  the  corps  of  topographical  engineers  of  the  govern- 
ment, whose  headquarters  were,  in  1850,  at  Louisville.  I  have  referred 
to  the  report  made  by  Henry  C.  Long  to  S.  H.  Long  concerning  the 
site  of  the  city  as  probably  the  most  important  engineering  work 
ever  done  for  the  city.  It  was  in  many  respects  the  basis  for  all 
other  plans,  plats  and  work  of  the  Trustees  from  1852  or  1853  onward. 


TRUSTEES  OF  THE  CAIRO  CITY  PROPERTY      163 

In  1884  Mr.  Harvey  Reid  published  a  biographical  sketch  of  Enoch 
Long,  an  Illinois  pioneer,  which  seems  to  have  been  taken  from  Apple- 
ton's  American  Cyclopedia.  In  this  account  it  is  stated  that  Henry 
Clay  Long  was  born  near  Philadelphia  February  18,  1822,  and  that  he 
became  a  civil  engineer,  and  died  while  in  the  employ  of  the  United 
States  government  on  board  the  United  States  steamer  Montana  at 
LaCrosse,  Wisconsin,  April  10,  1871.  In  the  sketch  of  Enoch  Long 
referred  to,  the  names  of  other  members  of  the  Long  family  are 
mentioned  as  living  at  Alton,  Illinois,  where  Stephen  Harriman  Long 
died.  While  Long  was  here  at  work  helping  the  Trustees  to  start 
their  city,  Mr.  Charles  Thrupp  came  here,  probably  in  the  year  1850, 
and  was  assistant  to  Long  for  some  years.  Mr.  Thrupp,  whose  death 
occurred  on  the  15  th  day  of  July,  1900,  was  probably  better  acquainted 
with  the  City  of  Cairo  in  all  its  somew^hat  varied  features  than  any 
other  person,  excepting  Colonel  Taylor.  He  was  for  a  long  time 
in  the  service  of  the  Trustees  after  that  early  period,  and  was  almost 
the  first  man  to  be  inquired  of  concerning  corners  and  boundary  lines 
and  other  like  matters  in  our  city.  He  and  Mrs.  Thrupp  were  English 
people  and  up  to  the  time  of  their  respective  deaths  they  were  well 
known  and  highly  esteemed  in  the  city. 

There  were  a  number  of  other  persons  who  occupied  the  position  of 
civil  engineers  for  the  Trustees,  but  their  terms  of  service  were  generally 
of  limited  duration  and  arose  long  after  most  of  the  important  work 
of  that  nature  had  been  fully  completed. 

I  have  elsewhere  spoken  of  Mr.  John  Newell,  who  was  for  a  year 
or  two  in  the  service  of  the  Trustees,  embracing  the  year  1855;  and  I 
have  also  in  another  place  told  of  General  McClellan's  presence  here 
so  often  when  the  levees  were  in  the  course  of  construction  and  when 
he  was  vice-president  and  chief  engineer  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company.  I  have  often  spoken  of  the  offices  of  the  Trustees 
as  containing  so  many  documents  and  records  of  a  highly  important 
nature.  They  often  seem  to  me  as  in  the  nature  of  public  offices;  and 
I  am  quite  sure  that  so  far  as  historical  facts  or  information  are  con- 
cerned they  contain  a  hundred-fold  more  material  than  can  be  found  at 
any  or  all  other  places  in  the  citj^,  excepting  possibly  the  court-house, 
where  the  records  are  far  more  complete  from  the  time  of  the  organi- 
zation of  the  county,  in  1819,  than  can  be  found  in  almost  any  other 
of  the  older  counties. 

Cairo  Newspapers. — The  whole  of  Chapter  VI  of  that  part  of 
the  "History  of  Alexander,  Union  and  Pulaski  Counties"  which  relates 
to  Cairo  is  devoted  to  Cairo  newspapers.  It  begins  with  the  first  one 
published  in  1841  for  a  short  time  under  the  Holbrook  administration, 
the  name  of  the  paper  not  being  given,  and  ends  with  the  "Cairo  Daily 
Argus."  The  chapter  is  very  full  and  we  suppose  complete,  and  were 
we  to  go  over  any  part  of  that  period  from  1841  to  1883,  it  would 
be  but  to  copy  from  that  history. 

Since  that  time,  we  have  had  published  here  "The  Citizen,"  "The 


/ 


^64 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Evening  Citizen,"  a  daily,  "The  Cairo  Telegram,"  "The  Peoples'  Paper" 
and  "The  Weekly  Star."  If  there  were  other  papers  started  and  pub- 
lished for  a  time,  I  am  not  able  to  recall  the  names  thereof.  Mr. 
Henry  F.  Potter  continued  the  publication  of  the  "Cairo  Daily  Argus" 
up  to  about  the  first  of  October,  1907,  at  which  time  he  was  com- 
pelled to  discontinue  its  publication  solely  on  account  of  failing  health. 
Few  persons  can  realize  the  verj^  exacting  duties  imposed  by  the  pub- 
lication of  a  daily  paper.  The  daily  demand,  while  not  always  severe, 
sooner  or  later  becomes  verj'^  trying  where  so  much  of  the  responsibility 
falls  upon  one  person.  Mr.  Potter's  experience  as  a  publisher  and 
editor  at  Mound  City  and  Cairo  made  him  one  of  the  best  of  writers. 
An  able  and  forceful  man  naturally,  his  newspaper  training  developed 
all  his  intellectual  faculties  and  gave  him  a  strength  of  character  which 
no  other  training  probably  would  have  afforded  him. 

"The  Cairo  Telegram"  was  established  by  Mr.  Eugene  E.  Ellis  in 
the  year  1887.  He  conducted  it  along  with  his  long  established  job- 
bing office,  but  in  the  year  igo6,  after  nineteen  years  of  existence,  he  dis- 
continued the  paper.  Different  persons  were  its  editors  from  time  to 
time,  but  he  always  exercised  a  direct  supervision  over  its  columns 
and  made  the  paper  a  strong  force  in  the  community  and  a  great  credit 
to  the  city.  It  was  with  the  "Telegram"  that  Miss  Bessie  M.  Turner 
began  her  newspaper  work.  She  was  also  with  the  "Bulletin"  a  number 
of  years  and  until  she  became  Mrs.  Jean  M.  Allen.  It  was  with  regret 
that  the  public  gave  her  up. 

"The  Peoples'  Paper"  was  edited,  and  I  believe  published,  by  Mr. 
Solomon  Farnbaker,  whose  psfrents  were  among  the  ver}-  oldest  residents 
of  the  city.  It  w^as  started  in  June,  1886,  and  was  published  a  number 
of  years.  It  was  a  kind  of  free  lance,  cutting  in  almost  all  directions, 
but  not  alwaj^s  with  fine  discrimination.  Like  many  of  the  newspapers 
found  in  almost  all  the  cities  of  the  country,  it  seemed  to  .be  most  at 
home  or  in  its  proper  line  of  duty  when  criticising  some  one  or  some- 
thing. We  found  a  large  number  of  clippings  from  it  among  Col. 
Taylor's  papers,  which  were  and  are  as  innumerable  as  the  sands  of  the 
seashore. 

"The  Citizen"  was  established  October  i,  1885,  by  Mr.  George 
Fisher,  who  had  been  for  a  number  of  years  and  up  to  that  time  the 
surveyor  of  the  port  of  Cairo  and  long  a  practicing  lawyer  of  our  city. 
He  began  the  publication  of  "The  Evening  Citizen,"  a  daily,  October  i, 
1897,  ^^^  carried  on  the  publication  of  the  two  papers  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death,  which  occurred  on  the  19th  day  of  December,  1900. 
Since  then,  his  son,  Mr.  John  C.  Fisher,  has  continued  the  publication 
of  the  two  papers,  and  it  is  believed  with  a  success  that  is  a  credit  alike 
to  him  and  the  people  of  the  cit}^  who  have  supported  the  papers.  They 
have  always  been  strongly  republican,  strong  party  papers,  but  their 
management  has  seldom,  if  ever,  been  subject  to  just  criticism.  As 
favorably  as  "The  Citizen"  is  regarded  as  a  newspaper  it  cannot  be  said 
that  it  is  not  fully  deserved.  Its  value  to  the  people  of  the  city  can  in 
no  sense  of  the  word  be  measured  by  its  cost  to  them. 


TRUSTEES  OF  THE  CAIRO  CITY  PROPERTY      165 

Mr.  Thomas  W.  Williams,  long  connected  with  "The  Cairo  Bulle- 
tin," purchased  in  1905  "The  Weekly  Star,"  at  Thebes.  The  "Star"  was 
the  successor  of  "The  Thebes  Record."  Mr.  Williams  continued  the  pub- 
lication of  the  paper  at  Thebes  until  1906,  when  he  removed  it  to 
Cairo,  and  since  that  time  he  has  continued  its  publication  here.  Its 
circulation  is  confined  largely  to  the  county,  and,  we  are  glad  to  say, 
it  seems  to  be  well  sustained.  Mr.  Williams  has  become  well  and 
favorably  known  throughout  the  city  and  county  and  is  at  present 
a  member  of  our  city  council  and  represents  the  third  ward. 

"The  Cairo  Bulletin,"  first  published  in  1868,  is  still  one  of  our 
city  papers.  It  is  now  in  its  forty-second  year.  This  says  so  much  for 
the  paper  that  little  more  is  needed.  Sometime  before  the  year  1883, 
when  Mr.  Bradsby  wrote,  Mr.  Oberly  had  sold  out  his  interest  in 
the  "Bulletin"  to  Mr.  E.  A.  Burnett,  now  of  St.  Louis,  and  removed  to 
Bloomington,  where  he  began  the  publication  of  the  "Bloomington  Bulle- 
tin." Mr.  Burnett,  in  the  year  1903,  sold  the  "Bulletin"  establishment 
to  Harry  E.  Halliday,  Henry  S.  Candee  and  David  S.  Lansden,  and 
they  continued  its  publication  up  to  the  year  1908,  when  Mr.  Lansden 
disposed  of  his  interest.  In  1904  they  published  for  six  to  nine  months 
an  evening  paper  called  "The  Evening  News."  Mr.  Samuel  J.  Stockard 
was  the  editor  of  the  "Bulletin"  for  a  year  or  two.  He  was  a  good 
writer  and  esteemed  very  highly  not  only  as  a  writer  but  as  a  man  and 
citizen.  Mr.  Edward  W.  Thielecke  has  been  in  charge  of  the  editorial 
department  of  the  "Bulletin"  longer  than  any  one  else.  He  was  in  the 
city  of  St.  Louis  during  the  editorship  of  Mr.  Stockard  and  returned 
here  in  the  year  1905.  He  has  been  connected  with  the  "Bulletin"  in  his 
present  capacity  for  the  period  of  twenty-four  years.  He  has  shown  him- 
self an  able  writer,  and  I  think  an  able  editor.  My  first  recollection  of  him 
extends  back  to  the  time  when  he  had  not  even  thought  of  becoming  a 
writer  or  an  editor.  If  any  one  supposes  his  position,  or  the  position  of 
editor  of  "The  Citizen,"  or  of  any  other  such  paper,  is  easy  to  fill 
he  is  very  much  mistaken.  Few  persons  are  qualified  for  such  posi- 
tions. We  are  too  often  ready  with  our  criticisms  when,  if  we 
would  but  take  the  places  of  the  persons  criticized,  we  would  soon  see 
how  unequal  we  were  to  the  demands  of  the  places  we  had  assumed  to 
fill.  Many  of  us  might,  in  a  kind  of  flabby  way,  edit  a  mere  newspaper, 
but  to  make  the  paper  anything  like  what  it  ought  to  be  in  a  community 
we  would  find  ourselves  largely,  if  not  totally,  insufficient.  What- 
ever may  be  said  for  or  against  Mr.  Thielecke's  general  course  as  an 
editor  this  at  least  can  be  safely  said  that  he  has  learned  to  write 
clearly,  strongly  and  fearlessly.  Without  the  latter  qualification  the 
so-called  editor  is  little  else  than  a  mere  excuse.  His  long  editorial 
connection  with  the  "Bulletin"  is  far  better  evidence  of  his  standing  as 
an  editor  than  anything  I  might  say. 

Now  leaving  this  subject  of  Cairo  newspapers,  may  I  not  be  per- 
mitted to  say  that  we  have  perhaps  a  better  state  of  things  regarding 
them  than  has  existed  in  Cairo  for  many  years?     Most  of  the  time 


i66  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

have  we  not  had  too  many  -newspapers;  too  many  for  the  people  to 
take  and  too  many  among  which  newspaper  support  had  to  be  divided  ? 
As  a  general  rule  our  Cairo  newspapers,  whether  many  or  few,  have 
been  quite  as  good  as  could  possibly  be  expected,  considering  the  sup- 
port due  them  from  the  public.  With  our  daily  morning  paper  and 
daily  evening  paper,  the  people  of  the  city  get  all  the  city  news,  and 
their  support  enables  the  publishers  to  do  better  for  their  readers, 
and  in  this  way  the  people  are  sen''ed  to  the  best  advantage.  They  obtain 
the  best  newspaper  service  at  lowest  reasonable  rates. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

CAIRO   IN    SERVITUDE   TO    LAND   COMPANIES 

IN  law  we  have  what  are  called  dominant  and  serviant  estates. 
Cairo's  existence,  both  corporate  and  otherwise,  has  always  been 
that  represented  by  the  latter  of  these  conditions.  The  limitations 
upon  her  corporate  life  and  action  and  upon  her  people  have  been  of 
a  peculiar  nature,  and  have  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  interfered  with 
her  growth  and  prosperit}^  These  have  changed  somewhat  from  time 
to  time,  but  have  not  yet  disappeared.  She  never  had  a  civil  govern- 
ment of  her  own  until  1855,  when  she  was  thought  entitled  to  become 
a  town  or  village.  This  form  of  civil  administration  was  superseded, 
about  two  years  later,  with  a  city  government,  whose  fifty-three  years 
of  experience  under  its  limitations  ought  to  be  of  considerable  municipal 
value. 

Cairo  was  started  by  a  land  company  three  several  times.  To  a 
limited  extent,  at  least,  this  explains  why  it  had  to  be  started  so  often. 
It  is  very  true,  the  natural  difficulties  of  the  situation  were  great,  and 
it  may  be  that  the  enterprise  could  not  have  gotten  under  way  at  all 
except  by  means  and  methods  in  the  nature  of  corporate  initiatives. 
This,  however,  is  but  accounting  for  a  condition  of  the  things  necessary 
in  itself  though  unfortunate.  The  lands  were  entered  in  181 7  for  the 
purpose  of  building  a  city.  They  were  soon  forfeited  to  the  govern- 
ment and  the  attempt  abandoned.  In  1835,  the  lands  were  again 
entered  for  the  same  purpose;  and  with  the  year  1836,  began  an  actual 
and  most  earnest  attempt  to  build  a  city,  worthy  somewhat,  at  least, 
of  its  remarkable  geographical  position.  This  decade  of  years,  ending 
with  1846,  was  in  many  respects  the  most  important  of  all  in  the  history 
of  the  city.  It  was  in  many  respects  a  stirring  time,  a  time  of  great 
things,  under  the  lead  of  a  man  of  character  and  great  enterprise,  above 
any  one,  no  doubt,  who  has  ever  had  the  interest  of  the  place  in  his 
charge.  But  it  was  a  land  company,  a  company  that  did  not  want  to 
sell  any  of  its  lands  until  after  it  had  gotten  its  city  under  way;  and 
during  the  whole  period  of  its  ten  years  of  existence,  it  sold  neither 
lands  nor  lots,  until  it  found  that  it  also  had  to  retire  out  of  being, 
and  turn  over  all  it  had,  both  real  and  personal,  to  another  and  third  land 
company,  which  likewise  found  it  necessary  to  invest  no  one  else  with 
ownership  of  real  estate  until  the  lapse  of  eight  years,  ending  with 
December,  1853.  We  thus  have  the  long  period  of  eighteen  years, 
ending  with  the  year  1853,  during  which  these  land  companies  of  1836 
and  1846  held  all  the  lands  and  country  here  as  in  a  kind  of  mortmain 
or  dead  hands.     No  protest  or  remonstrance  could  avail  anything  at 

167 


i68 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

all.  The  land  companies  had  mapped  out  their  policies,  which  were 
essentially  one  and  the  same,  and  that  was  to  hold  on  to  everj^thing 
they  had  until  they  had  a  city  of  tenants  who  might  be  induced  to  buy 
on  terms  largely  dictated  by  the  landed  proprietors.  I  have  carefully 
examined  the  real  estate  records  of  the  county  from  1836  to  1854,  ^i^d 
with  the  fewest  possible  exceptions,  I  have  been  unable  to  find  that  the 
Cairo  City  and  Canal  Companj^  during  its  life  of  ten  years,  or  the 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Propert)^  from  1846  to  1854,  sold  any 
town  or  city  lot  or  land  to  any  one. 

As  much  as  they  may  have  desired  to  see  the  place  grow  and  prosper 
and  to  induce  people  to  become  residents,  they  retained  in  their  private 
ownership  the  whole  river  frontage  on  both  rivers,  aggregating  a 
distance  of  twelve  to  fifteen  miles,  over  which  no  one  scarcely  might  or 
could  pass  for  water  or  for  any  other  purpose  whatsoever,  without 
becoming  a  trespasser,  either  in  an  actual  or  legal  sense.  This  exclusive 
dominion  over  approaches  to  the  rivers  has  always  enabled  them  to 
lay  under  tribute  all  the  commerce  of  the  rivers;  and  this  became  a 
matter  of  serious  complaint  by  the  river  interests,  which  demanded 
free  or  cheap  wharfage.  Their  complaints  often  degenerated  into 
abuse,  but  it  was  against  the  city  itself,  between  which  and  the  landed 
proprietors  they  made  no  distinction ;  for  as  a  general  rule  they  knew  of 
none.  These  complaints,  of  every  kind  and  nature,  were  carried  up 
and  down  these  great  rivers  and  their  tributaries  and  were  thus  widely 
disseminated;  and  to  them  is  due,  in  no  small  part,  the  reputation  in 
which  the  city  was  so  long  held.  These  landed  proprietors,  with  one 
or  two  possible  exceptions,  were  merely  foreign  landlords,  whose  in- 
terests somehow  seemed  to  be  one  thing  while  that  of  the  people  here 
seemed  to  be  quite  another.  Very  naturally,  there  arose  at  the  very 
outset  a  want  of  sympathy  and  co-operation,  to  remove  or  change 
which  the  landed  interests  made  little  or  no  effort. 

In  the  last  days  of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  when  the 
proprietors,  or  their  representatives,  were  taking  their  departure,  what 
they  had  left  here  was  seized  upon  and  made  way  with  without  ceremony 
or  any  form  of  legal  proceedings.  The  people  were  little  or  no  part  of 
the  enterprise.  This  they  well  knew  and  fully  realized.  They  had 
acquired  no  lands  nor  lots — could  acquire  none;  and  now  that  the  city, 
or  what  was  left  of  it,  was  to  be  abandoned,  they  found  themselves 
unexpectedly  fortunate  in  not  being  incumbered  with  anything  but 
movables  to  prevent  their  departure  to  other  parts  of  the  country;  and 
so  it  was  easy  enough  for  the  number  of  people  in  the  place  tO'  fall  in  a 
comparatively  short  time  from  tv^'O  thousand  to  the  two  hundred 
which  was  the  population  of  Cairo  when  Col.  Taylor  arrived  here 
April  15,  1851. 

To  further  establish  what  is  said  above  about  the  policy  of  the  land 
companies,  we  refer  to  the  editorial  in  the  "Cairo  Delta,"  of  September 
20,  1849,  quoted  in  Chapter  VII.  Judging  from  what  Editor  Sanders 
said,  the  people  had  hoped  that  the  administration  of  the  Trustees  of 
the  Cairo  City  Property  would  differ  widely  and  favorably  from  that 


CAIRO  IN  SERVITUDE  TO  LAND  COMPANIES     169 

of  the  Holbrook  administration ;  but  they  seem  to  have  been  disap- 
pointed. The  change  was  but  from  one  land  company  to  another,  and 
the  end  and  means  thereto  seemed  strikingly  alike.  The  Holbrook 
enterprise  of  1836  to  1846  was  largely  western;  that  of  the  Trustees 
was  more  largely  eastern.  The  Trustees  tightened  their  hold  on  the 
river  frontage  and  brought  the  river  interests  into  satisfactory  sub- 
jection to  their  demands  of  wharfage  dues.  This  seems  to  have  been 
their  legal  right,  and  the  matter  could  only  be  questioned  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  most  unfavorable  to  the  public  and  to  the  general  interests 
of  the  city. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE    AM  ERIC  AX    XOTES 

CHARLES  DICKENS  landed  at  Boston  the  21st  of  Januaty, 
1842,  and  returned  home  from  New  York  about  the  same  date 
in  the  following  June.  He  was,  therefore,  in  the  United  States 
five  months.  He  came  in  a  steamer  and  returned  in  a  sailing  vessel. 
His  reception  at  Boston  was  altogether  a  hearty  one.  The  banquet 
given  him  at  New  York  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  was  all  that  he 
and  his  closest  friends  could  have  hoped  for.  He  came  to  lecture  and 
to  stimulate  the  sale  of  his  books,  but  chiefly  in  the  interest  of  inter- 
national copyright.  His  early  letters  home  were  friendly  enough ;  but 
by  the  time  he  left  Baltimore  for  his  western  trip  he  had  found  it 
difficult  and  probably  impossible  to  arouse  in  the  public  mind  the  interest 
he  felt  in  copyright  matters,  and  the  tone  of  his  letters  changed  to 
accord  with  his  feeling  of  disappointment.  His  unfavorable  impressions 
of  the  country  deepened  as  he  dwelt  on  the  obstinacy  of  the  American 
people;  and  to  this  is  due,  largely,  the  spirit  the  notes  everywhere 
manifest.  It  was  to  be  expected,  of  course,  that  he  would  on  his  return 
home  write  a  book — an  account  of  his  experiences  and  impressions  while 
in  the  United  States;  but  it  was  not  supposed  that  the  volume  would 
be  filled  with  sneers  and  caricatures. 

In  a  letter  to  Macready,  written  at  Baltimore  March  22nd,  he 
named  the  cities  he  expected  to  visit  on  his  western  trip.  He  was  to 
go  from  Baltimore  to  Harrisburg,  and  thence  by  canal  and  railroad  to 
Pittsburg,  thence  do^^■n  the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati  and  Louisville,  and 
to  the  Mississippi,  up  the  same  to  St.  Louis,  over  the  prairies  to  Chicago, 
and  thence  east\vard,  through  Canada,  to  New  York.  He  left  Pitts- 
burg on  the  IVIessenger  April  ist,  Cincinnati  on  the  Pike  April  6th, 
Louisville  on  the  Fulton  April  7th  and  reached  Cairo  the  forenoon 
of  Saturday,  April  9th.  He  arrived  at  St,  Louis  Sunday  evening, 
April  lOth,  at  about  ten  o'clock.  He  was  not  detained  at  Cairo  by 
low  water  or  by  ice.  He  was  here  but  an  hour  or  two.  His  account 
of  what  he  saw  here  was  colored  much  more  by  his  feelings 
than  by  his  vision.  There  were  then  1500  to  2000  people  here.  A 
million  and  a  quarter  dollars  of  English  monej'  had  been  spent  in  the 
purchase  of  lands  and  the  making  of  improvements,  all  of  which  was 
then  beginning  to  be  lost  by  the  failure,  November  23,  1840,  of  his 
countn-men,  John  Wright  &  Company,  Bankers,  of  Henrietta  Street, 
Covent  Garden,  London.  The  Cairo  improvements  had  been  planned 
by  Holbrook  and  his  associates  on  the  faith  and  belief  that  Wright  & 
Company  would  furnish  all  the  means  necessary  to  make  their  enter- 

170 


'v*V-! 


^'■;.-/:-x. 


M 


V*^' 


A    4il 


THE  AMERICAN  NOTES  171 

prise  a  success.  The  bonds  which  Wright  &  Company  handled  were 
secured  by  a  trust  deed  to  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  &  Trust 
Company  on  all  the  lands  of  the  company  here  between  the  two  rivers. 
But  other  London  financiers,  disliking  Wright  &  Company's  handling 
of  American  securities,  turned  against  them,  broke  them  down  entirely 
and  forced  them  into  bankruptcy  and  out  of  business ;  and  with  their 
retirement  went  down  also  the  Cairo  enterprise.  Dickens  kept  along 
with  the  times  too  closely  to  be  ignorant  of  these  facts  when  he  reached 
Cairo.  The  American  publishers  were,  he  said,  growing  rich  on  the 
sale  of  his  books  and  he  getting  nothing,  and  the  sight  of  Cairo  only 
brought  to  mind  the  fact  that  many  other  Englishmen  had  fared  badly 
in  this  country.  He  was  in  such  temper  of  mind  that  nothing  was 
needed  to  stimulate  to  unfriendly  and  unjust  criticism. 

The  following  letter  of  May  i,  1842,  to  Henry  Austin,  his  brother- 
in-law,  will  show  his  degree  of  ill  humor  when  here  April  9th, — three 
weeks  before  the  letter  was  written. 

"Is  it  not  a  horrible  thing  that  scoundrel  booksellers  should  grow 
rich  here  from  publishing  books,  the  authors  of  which  do  not  reap  one 
farthing  from  their  issue  by  scores  of  thousands ;  and  that  every  vile 
blackguard  and  detestable  newspaper,  so  filthy  and  bestial  that  no  honest 
man  would  admit  one  into  his  house  for  a  scullery  doormat,  should  be 
able  to  publish  those  same  writings  side  by  side,  cheek  by  jowl,  with  the 
coarsest  and  most  obscene  companions,  with  which  they  must  become 
connected,  in  course  of  time  in  people's  minds?  Is  it  tolerable  that 
besides  being  robbed  and  rifled  an  author  should  be  forced  to  appear  in 
any  form,  in  any  vulgar  dress,  in  any  atrocious  company;  that  he  should 
have  no  choice  of  his  audience,  no  control  over  his  own  distorted  text, 
and  that  he  should  be  compelled  to  jostle  out  of  the  course  the  best 
men  in  this  countr}',  who  only  ask  to  live  by  writings?  I  vow  before 
high  Heaven  that  my  blood  so  boils  at  these  enormities  that  when  I 
speak  about  them,  I  seem  to  grow  twenty  feet  high,  and  to  swell  out 
in  proportion.  'Robbers  that  ye  are,'  I  think  to  myself  when  I  get  upon 
my  legs,  'here  goes.'  " 

The  following  are  extracts  from  the  Notes : 

"Nor  was  the  scenery,  as  we  approached  the  junction  of  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  Rivers,  at  all  inspiriting  in  its  influence.  The  trees 
were  stunted  in  their  growth;  the  banks  were  low  and  flat;  the  settle- 
ments and  log  cabins  fewer  in  number;  their  inhabitants  more  wan 
and  wretched  than  any  we  had  encountered  yet.  No  songs  of  birds 
were  in  the  air,  no  pleasant  scents,  no  moving  lights  and  shadows 
from  swift  passing  clouds.  Hour  after  hour,  the  changeless  glare  of 
the  hot,  unwinking  sky,  shone  upon  the  same  monotonous  objects. 
Hour  after  hour,  the  river  rolled  along,  as  wearily  and  slowly  as  the 
time  itself. 

"At  length,  upon  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  we  arrived  at  a 
spot  so  much  more  desolate  than  any  we  had  yet  beheld,  that  the  for- 
lornest  places  we  had  passed,  were,  in  comparison  with  it,  full  of 
interest.     At  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers,  on  ground  so  flat  and  low 


172  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

and  marshy,  that  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  it  is  inundated  to  the 
house-tops,  lies  a  breeding-place  of  fever,  ague,  and  death;  vaunted 
in  England  as  a  mine  of  Golden  Hope,  and  speculated  in,  on  the  faith 
of  monstrous  representations,  to  many  people's  ruin.  A  dismal  swamp, 
on  which  the  half-built  houses  rot  away;  cleared  here  and  there  for  the 
space  of  a  few  yards;  and  teeming,  then,  with  rank  unwholesome  vege- 
tation, in  whose  baleful  shade  the  wretched  wanderers  who  are  tempted 
hither,  droop,  and  die,  and  lay  their  bones;  the  hateful  Mississippi 
circling  and  eddying  before  it,  and  turning  off  upon  its  southern  course 
a  slimy  monster  hideous  to  behold ;  a  hotbed  of  disease,  an  ugly  sepulchre, 
a  grave  uncheered  by  any  gleam  of  promise;  a  place  without  one  single 
quality,  in  earth  or  air  or  water,  to  commend  it;  such  is  this  dismal 
Cairo. 

"But  what  words  shall  describe  the  Mississippi  great  father^  of 
rivers,  who  (praise  be  to  Heaven)  has  no  young  children  like  him! 
An  enormous  ditch,  sometimes  two  or  three  miles  wide,  running  liquid 
mud,  six  miles  an  hour;  its  strong  and  frothy  current  choked  and  ob- 
structed everywhere  by  huge  logs  and  whole  forest  trees;  now  twining 
themselves  together  in  great  rafts,  from  the  interstices  of  which  a 
sedgy  lazy  foam  works  up,  to  float  upon  the  water's  top;  now  rolling 
past  like  monstrous  bodies,  their  tangled  roots  showing  like  matted  hair ; 
now  glancing  singly  by  like  giant  leeches;  and  now  writhing  round 
and  round  in  the  vortex  of  some  small  whirlpool  like  wounded  snakes. 
The  banks  low,  the  trees  dwarfish,  the  marshes  swarming  with  frogs, 
the  wretched  cabins  few  and  far  apart,  their  inmates  hollow-cheeked 
and  pale,  the  weather  very  hot,  mosquitoes  penetrating  into  every  crack 
and  crevice  of  the  boat,  mud  and  slime  on  everything;  nothing  pleasant 
in  its  aspect,  but  the  harmless  lightning  which  flickers  every  night  upon 
the  dark  horizon. 

"For  two  days  we  toiled  up  this  foul  stream,  striking  constantly 
against  the  floating  timber,  or  stopping  to  avoid  those  more  dangerous 
obstacles,  the  snags,  or  sawyers,  which  are  the  hidden  trunks  of  trees 
that  have  their  roots  below  the  tide.  When  the  nights  are  very  dark, 
the  look-out  stationed  in  the  head  of  the  boat,  knows  by  the  ripple  of 
the  water  if  any  great  impediment  be  near  at  hand,  and  rings  a  bell 
beside  him,  which  is  the  signal  for  the  engine  to  be  stopped ;  but  always 
in  the  night  this  bell  has  work  to  do,  and  after  every  ring,  there  comes 
a  blow  which  renders  it  no  easy  matter  to  remain  in  bed." 

Dickens  after  his  arrival  at  St.  Louis  decided  to  return  the  way  he 
came,  at  least  as  far  as  Cincinnati,  and  journey  thence  to  Sandusky  and 
thence  into  Canada,  but  before  doing  so,  he  went  over  to  Belleville, 
which  he  described  with  much  the  same  temper  and  language  as  that 
shown  and  used  about  Cairo.  He  went  as  far  as  Lebanon,  in  St.  Clair 
County,  to  get  a  better  view  of  the  prairies.  From  Lebanon  he  re- 
turned to  St.  Louis  and  there  took  the  same  steamboat,  the  Fulton, 
for  Cincinnati.  Passing  Cairo  on  his  return  trip  he  gave  it  a  parting 
shot  in  these  miasmatic  words: 


THE  AMERICAN  NOTES 173 

"In  good  time  next  morning,  however,  we  came  again  in  sight  of 
the  detestable  morass  called  Cairo;  and  stopping  there  took  in  wood, 
lay  alongside  a  barge,  whose  starting  timbers  scarcely  held  together. 
It  was  moored  to  the  bank,  and  on  its  side  was  painted  'Coffee  House' ; 
that  being,  I  suppose,  the  floating  paradise  to  which  the  people  fly  for 
shelter  when  they  lose  their  houses  for  a  month  or  two  beneath  the 
hideous  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  But  looking  southward  from  this 
point,  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  that  intolerable  river  dragging 
its  slimy  length  and  ugly  freight  abruptly  off  towards  New  Orleans; 
and  passing  a  yellow  line  which  stretched  across  the  current,  were  again 
upon  the  clear  Ohio,  never,  I  trust,  to  see  the  Mississippi  more,  saving 
in  troubled  dreams  and  nightmares." 

What  Dickens  wrote  about  Cairo  was  no  more  true  than  the  fol- 
lowing he  wrote  about  Belleville : 

"Belleville  was  a  small  collection  of  wooden  houses,  huddled  to- 
gether in  the  very  heart  of  the  bush  and  swamp.  Many  of  them  had 
singularly  bright  doors  of  red  and  yellow ;  for  the  place  had  been  lately 
visited  by  a  traveling  painter,  'who  got  along,  as  I  was  told,  by  eating 
his  way.'  The  criminal  court  was  sitting,  and  was  at  the  moment 
trjang  some  criminals  for  horse-stealing;  with  whom  it  would  most 
likely  go  hard;  for  live  stock  of  all  kinds  being  necessarily  very  much 
exposed  in  the  woods,  is  held  by  the  community  in  rather  higher  value 
than  human  life;  and  for  this  reason,  juries  generally  make  a  point  of 
finding  all  men  indicted  for  cattle-stealing,  guilty,  whether  or  no. 

"The  horses  belonging  to  the  bar,  the  judge,  and  witnesses,  were 
tied  to  temporary  racks  set  up  roughly  in  the  road;  by  which  is  to  be 
understood,  a  forest  path,  nearly  knee  deep  in  mud  and  slime. 

"There  was  an  hotel  in  this  place  which,  like  all  hotels  in  America, 
had  its  large  dining-room  for  the  public  table.  It  was  an  odd,  sham- 
bling, low-roofed  out-house,  half  cow-shed  and  half  kitchen,  with  a 
coarse  brown  canvas  table-cloth,  and  tin  sconces  stuck  against  the  walls, 
to  hold  candles  at  supper-time." 

"The  American  Notes"  is  one  of  the  poorest  of  his  books.  Macaulay 
was  requested  to  write  a  notice  of  the  book,  but  after  reading  it 
declined,  saying: 

"I  cannot  praise  it,  and  I  will  not  cut  it  up.  I  cannot  praise  it, 
though  it  contains  a  few  lively  dialogues  and  descriptions;  for  it 
seems  to  me  to  be,  on  the  whole,  a  failure.  It  is  written  like  the  worst 
parts  of  '  Humphrey's  Clock."  What  is  meant  to  be  easy  and  sprightly 
is  vulgar  and  flippant.  What  is  meant  to  be  fine  is  a  great  deal  too 
fine  for  me,  as  the  description  of  the  Fall  of  Niagara.  A  reader  who 
wants  an  amusing  account  of  the  United  States  had  better  go  to  Mrs. 
Trollope,  coarse  and  malignant  as  she  is.  A  reader  who  wants  in- 
formation about  American  politics,  manners,  and  literature  had  better 
go  even  to  so  poor  a  creature  as  Buckingham.  In  short,  I  pronounce 
the  book,  in  spite  of  some  gleams  of  genius,  at  once  frivolous  and  dull." 


174  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

In  "Martin  Chuzzleivit "  we  find  Dickens  still  caricaturing  the 
United  States  and  its  people;  and  Cairo  especially,  under  the  name  of 
"Eden,"  comes  in  for  a  large  share  of  attention.  It  would  seem  that 
the  one  book,  the  "American  Notes,"  would  have  been  sufficient  to 
satisfy  his  resentment,  for  such  it  seems  to  have  been.  Every  one  must, 
however,  admire  his  wonderful  writing.  Then,  too,  we  must  remember 
that  when  he  was  here  and  for  many  years  afterwards,  Great  Britain  was 
hated  and  abused  everj^where  and  by  fully  one-half  of  the  people  of  the 
countr>\ 

In  the  will  of  Lieutenant-Governor  William  Kinney,  dated  August 
9,  1843,  and  probated  in  St.  Clair  County  October  i8th  of  that  year,  we 
find  this  clause:  "I  give  R.  K.  Fleming,  in  consideration  of  his  copying 
and  writing  for  me  a  pamphlet  against  Charles  Dickens,  and  other 
articles,  one  hundred  dollars  in  cash."  See  volume  IX,  pp.  441-444,  of 
the  Historical  Publications  of  the  Illinois  Historical  Societ}'.  A  certified 
copy  of  the  will  was  filed  in  the  recorder's  office  of  Alexander  County, 
October  i,  1909. 

NoM^,  taking  leave  of  Dickens,  let  us  say  that  in  his  letters  to  Forster 
and  others,  he  made  it  clear  that  when  he  reached  home  he  would,  to 
use  his  own  fi.ne  language,  stretch  himself  "twenty  feet  high  and 
swell  out  in  proportion,"  in  railing  at  the  American  people. 

After  twenty-five  years,  he  came  back  to  lecture,  or  rather  to  read. 
He  landed  at  Boston,  as  before,  but  with  feelings  of  anxiety  about  the 
reception  that  would  be  accorded  him.  What  he  had  written  in  1842 
was  much  in  his  way  in  1867.  The  incongruity  of  his  second  visit 
with  his  account  of  the  first  one  was  apparent ;  but  his  desire  for  money 
was  too  strong  to  forbid  him  asking  the  favor  of  the  people  whom  he 
had  so  deliberately  and  maliciously  traduced  and  insulted. 

If  in  man  there  are  two  natures,  the  one  good  and  the  other  evil, 
it  may  be  safely  affirmed  that  out  of  the  latter  in  Dickens  "  The 
American  Notes"  issued. 

But  Cairo  had  a  hard  name  before  Dickens  saw  it.  It  had  a 
hard  name  because  it  was  a  hard  place.  On  the  rivers  vt'ere  and  always 
have  been  many  hard  characters.  The  central  location  of  the  place 
drew  many  of  them  here.  River  craft  of  every  existing  kind  and 
pattern  and  doing  all  kinds  of  trading  and  business  landed  here.  The 
site  was  low  and  often  overflowed,  and  hence  the  long  absence  of  im- 
provements and  settled  inhabitants.  The  failures  of  land  companies 
to  overcome  the  natural  obstacles  in  the  way  of  establishing  a  town 
or  city  added  to  the  unfavorable  reputation  the  place  bore.  It  was  a 
low  and  a  decidedly  uninviting  point,  and  the  travelers  upon  the  rivers 
never  spoke  well  of  it.  They  could  not.  They  all  seemed  to  think 
that  at  the  junction  of  two  such  great  rivers  as  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
there  ought  to  be  a  fine,  not  to  say  a  grand  city. 

The  hard  name  arose  in  part  from  a  hard  state  of  things,  but 
quite  as  much  from  the  temper  and  disposition  of  some  of  the  early 
Cairo  inhabitants,  who  were  jolly  good  fellows  in  their  off-hand  and 


THE  AMERICAN  NOTES  175 

don't-care  sort  of  a  way,  and  who,  instead  of  trying  to  improve  the 
reputation  of  the  town,  seemed  to  have  sought  to  keep  alive  the  un- 
favorable opinions  of  it  by  all  sorts  of  remarkable  stories  and  accounts 
of  crimes  and  offenses  which  never  had  any  existence  save  in  their 
fertile  brains. 

I  might  close  this  chapter  without  saying  anything  more  concerning 
the  reputation  which  our  city  has  so  long  borne;  but  to  do  so  would 
not  be  correct  historical  treatment.  Historical  silence  is  not  allowable 
save  in  cases  of  want  of  information.  It  is  seldom  attributed  to  ignor- 
ance or  oversight.  Most  of  us  who  live  here  know  better  than  other 
people  what  has  so  generally  been  said  of  our  citj^  and  is  still  often  if 
not  quite  so  generally  said.  The  person  spoken  of  is  much  more  likely 
to  remember  what  was  spoken  than  the  speaker  where  what  was  said 
or  spoken  is  of  an  uncomplimentary  nature.  Cities,  large  and  small, 
are  not  unlike  individuals ;  but  an  individual  may  live  down,  so  to 
speak,  the  bad  reputation  he  has  borne ;  but  for  this  much  time  is  often 
required.  May  not  cities  do  the  same?  The  public  is  often  very  in- 
credulous and  often  demands  a  long  period  of  probation.  It  is  not 
admitting  too  much  to  say  that  our  city  should  have  made  more  prog- 
ress in  getting  a  good  or  a  better  name.  The  change  has  been  slow 
but  most  of  the  time  hopeful.  It  may  be  that  the  ground  gained  has 
all  been  lost  by  reason  of  the  recent  mobs  and  lynchings  and  their  at- 
tendant circumstances;  but  if  so,  it  is  only  another  evidence  that  a  re- 
established name  is  much  easier  lost  than  one  which  had  never  needed 
re-establishment.  The  hindrance  to  our  acquiring  a  better  reputation 
has  generally  been  ourselves.  We  have  persistently  denied  that  any- 
thing was  needed  here  that  was  not  equally  needed  in  almost  all  other 
cities — river  cities,  especially.  This  is  but  saying  that  if  Cairo  is  not 
worse  than  other  places,  there  is  no  ground  for  complaint  or  need  of 
improvement,  nor  is  there  any  reason  for  being  told  we  ought  to  be 
better.  This  fatal  view  of  the  matter  hinders  every  effort  for  advance- 
ment. 

If  one's  reputation  is  what  one's  neighbors  say  of  him,  why  may 
we  not  say  a  city's  reputation  is  what  its  neighbors  and  the  people 
generally,  elsewhere,  say  of  it?  Whether  they  speak  the  truth  or  not 
is  not  very  material  in  law  or  in  the  courts.  There  is  absolutely  no 
remedy  other  than  the  adoption  and  the  faithful  following  of  such 
course  of  conduct  as  will  convince  the  public  generally  that  we  are 
better  than  we  once  were  and  deserve  a  better  name.  Some  of  our 
citizens  lose  all  their  patience  when  this  matter  is  spoken  of.  Some 
say  it  is  a  falsehood  and  that  Cairo  is  all  right.  Others  say  it  has  always 
been  rather  a  wide  open  town,  and  it  is  useless  to  try  to  make  it  any- 
thing else.  Others  say  Cairo  is  a  citj^,  and  we  must  expect  to  have 
the  usual  city  characteristics,  and  that  vices  of  all  kinds  exist  every- 
where, and  one  hurts  the  town  and  business  by  talking  about  it;  and 
that  if  it  is  such  a  place  as  is  represented,  one  should  not  publish  it 
abroad   and   keep  people   from  coming  here   and   investing  in   business 


176  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

enterprises  and  making  the  city  the  home  of  their  families.  And 
finally,  others  say,  we  don't  care,  Cairo  is  good  enough  for  us;  if  one 
does  not  like  the  town  as  it  is,  let  him  go  elsewhere;  the  world  is 
wide. 

But  not  to  pursue  the  matter  further,  Cairo  is  not  the  hard  place  it 
is  so  often  represented  to  be.  Many  towns  and  cities  in  the  state 
desen^e  no  better  name  or  reputation  than  our  citj^  Let  us  cease,  how- 
ever, enjoining  silence  about  evils  whose  existence  or  extent  we  should 
be  able  to  deny.  Let  us,  along  with  our  great  material  improvement, 
seek  also  to  improve,  in  corresponding  degree,  those  other  features  of 
city  administration  which  every  one  knows  are  of  far  greater  importance 
than  are  matters  of  a  wholly  material  nature. 


Mayors  of  Cairo 


CHAPTER  XXIIl 

THE  TOWN   GOVERNMENT  OF  TWO  YEARS  AND  THE   CITY  GOVERNMENT 
OF  FIFTY-THREE  YEARS THE  SEVENTEEN  MAYORS 

ALTHOUGH  generally  spoken  of  as  a  city,  Cairo  never  became 
a  city  until  the  passage  of  the  act  of  February  ii,  1857.  An 
attempt  was  made  in  1852  to  incorporate  the  town  or  village  as 
a  city, .  but  the  Trustees,  having  the  bill  in  charge,  desired  to  include 
in  it  a  clause  requiring  the  first  board  of  aldermen  to  be  chosen  by  the 
legislature  and  to  hold  their  positions  for  five  years.  The  member  of 
the  legislature  who  presented  and  urged  the  bill,  C.  G.  Simons,  of 
Jonesboro,  admitted  that  this  requirement  was  a  very  unusual  one, 
but  he  said  it  was  regarded  as  a  necessary  protection  to  foreign  real 
estate  owners.  This  reference  could  only  have  been  to  the  Trustees  or 
to  those  whom  they  represented.  The  bill  failed  of  passage.  Andrew 
J.  Kuykendall,  then  in  the  senate  from  Vienna,  seems  to  have  been  the 
chief  opponent  of  the  bill.  He  subsequently  became  our  member  of 
Congress.  He  seems  to  have  been  interested  in  Cairo;  for  on  the  first 
sale  of  city  lots  by  the  Trustees,  namely,  the  23rd  day  of  December, 
1853,  he  bought  lots  one  and  two,  in  block  fifty-one,  in  the  city.  He 
paid  $500.00  for  the  lots.    The  Alexander  Club  now  owns  these  lots. 

On  tliat  somewhat  celebrated  day,  seven  years  and  a  half  after  the 
Trustees  acquired  their  title,  June  13,  1846,  from  the  Cairo  City  and 
Canal  Company,  they  began  their  first  sale  of  real  estate  to  the  people. 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  people  lost  patience  and  that  the  editor.  Add. 
H.  Sanders,  took  himself  and  his  newspaper,  "The  Cairo  Delta,"  to 
another  part  of  the  country?  But  the  circumstances  must  alwa3^s  be 
considered.    The  Trustees  had  indeed  undertaken  a  seven-year  task. 

Cairo  under  the  Town  Government. — Under  the  Holbrook  ad- 
ministration, from  1836  to  1846,  the  people  had  no  kind  of  civil  local 
government  except  such  as  came  from  the  county  and  state.  There  may 
have  been  some  kind  of  township,  school  or  road  district  government, 
but  we  have  not  come  upon  anything  of  the  kind.  The  county  records 
may,  however,  show  something  of  that  description.  How  the  people 
managed  to  get  along  from  1846  to  1855,  it  is  not  very  material  now  to 
inquire.  They  did  not  seem  to  have  needed  or  wanted  anything  besides 
what  the  county  and  state  could  afford  them  until  1855  ;  for  in  that  year, 
at  an  election  held  in  the  railroad  station  house,  it  was  decided  that 
they  would  establish  a  town  government,  and  on  the  8th  day  of  March 
they  held  an  election  for  town  trustees.  The  law  then  applicable  to 
such  matters  provided  for  a  vote  viva  voce  at  the  polls;  and  at  the 
election,    135    voters   went   to    the   polls  and   openly   announced    their 

177 


178  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

respective  preferences  or  votes.  There  were  five  Trustees  to  be  elected, 
and  each  voter  was  required  to  give  the  names  of  the  five  persons  he  de- 
sired to  become  Trustees.  The  persons  chosen  were  S.  S.  Taylor, 
Brj^an  Shannessy,  Peter  Stapleton,  Louis  W.  Young  and  M.  B.  Har- 
rell.  Only  two  of  the  voters  declined  to  v^ote  for  Col.  Taylor.  They 
were  I.  Lj^nch  and  E.  Babbs. 

It  is  altogether  probable  Col.  Taylor  was  strongly  in  favor  of  this 
movement  for  a  local  government  for  the  town.  At  all  events,  a  majority 
of  the  Trustees  were  favorable  to  his  policies  or  that  of  the  Trustees. 

The  next  j^ear,  however,  the  election  held  March  10,  1856,  resulted 
in  a  choice  of  men,  a  majority  of  whom  were  not  kindly  disposed  toward 
the  management  of  the  Trustees.  The  men  chosen  Trustees  at  this 
election  were  Thomas  Wilson,  Samuel  Staats  Taylor,  Cullen  D. 
Finch,  Moses  B.  Harrell  and  Charles  Thrupp. 

We  have  been  unable  to  find  the  records  or  papers  of  the  town 
Trustees  for  either  of  the  years  of  1855  or  1856,  except  the  poll  book 
of  the  election  just  mentioned,  and  possibly  one  or  two  other  papers 
which  were  of  little  or  no  interest.  These  records  should  have  passed 
to  the  city  government,  which  began  in  March,  1857;  but  the  present 
city  clerk,  Mr.  Robert  A.  Hatcher,  has  told  me  that  he  had  made  a 
careful  search  for  the  same  but  found  none. 

The  most  important  matter  with  which  the  town  Trustees,  of  both 
years,  seem  to  have  had  to  deal  was  the  wharf  and  wharfage  question. 
We  have  presented  this  matter  somewhat  fully  under  that  heading  and 
need  not  refer  further  to  it  here. 

It  seems  highly  probable  that  the  town  government  scheme  was  taken 
up  by  the  Trustees  upon  their  failure  to  procure  the  incorporation  of  the 
cit}'  of  Cairo  and  the  Cairo  Cit}-  Propert}'  or  the  Cairo  City  Propert}^ 
trust;  and  the  experience  of  the  Trustees  under  the  second  year  of  the 
town  government,  when  Thomas  Wilson  was  president  of  the  board, 
was  so  unsatisfactory^  that  they  were  led  to  seek  an  incorporation  of 
the  city  in  the  usual  way,  and  hence  the  act  of  February  11,  1857,  ^^'^s 
passed,  the  city's  first  charter. 

The  citj^  made  its  start  under  this  act  by  holding  an  election  March 
10,  1857,  the  poll  book  of  which  is  found  elsewhere.  With  this  poll 
book,  the  reader,  if  acquainted  in  Cairo,  can  see  who  of  the  voters  of 
1857  are  still  with  us. 

This  act  remained  in  force  ten  j^ears,  or  until  it  was  superseded  by 
the  act  of  February  18,  1867,  drawn  by  David  J.  Baker.  An  impor- 
tant amendment  was  made  to  it  February  10,  1869,  by  which  the  city 
was  provided  with  two  legislative  bodies  instead  of  the  one  only.  The 
new  or  upper  body  was  called  the  select  council,  and  the  lower  the 
board  of  aldermen.  This  amendment  of  twenty-eight  sections  was 
prepared  by  Judge  H.  K.  S.  O'Melveny,  Judge  William  J.  Allen,  and 
Mr.  Louis  Houck,  under  the  general  supervision  of  Col.  Taylor,  who 
always  took  the  greatest  interest  in  all  legislative  matters  relating  in 
anywase  to  the  city.  Mr.  Houck  was  then  Judge  O'Melveny's  part- 
ner.    The  need  of  this  amendment  arose  out  of  the  setting  aside  by  the 


TOWN  AND  CITY  GOVERNMENT 179 

supreme  court  of  the  city's  method  of  making  assessments  for  street 
filling  and  other  local  improvements.  (The  City  of  Chicago  vs.  Earned, 
34  111.,  203.)  Very  little,  however,  if  anything  at  all,  was  done  under 
this  amendment;  for  within  a  year  or  two,  the  legislature  adopted 
an  entirely  new  method  for  making  assessments  for  local  improve- 
ments. It  was  article  nine,  of  the  act  of  April  10,  1872,  for  the  in- 
corporation of  cities  and  villages.  The  city  adopted  the  article  before 
it  became  incorporated  under  the  act,  which  was  January  7,  1873.  It 
may  be  here  remarked  that  neither  of  the  charters  of  1857  or  1867  or 
the  amendment  of  1869,  required  the  mayor  or  aldermen  to  be  citizens 
or  electors  of  the  state.  A  property  qualification  only  was  required. 
This  general  act  of  April  10,  1872,  has  been  adopted  by  almost  all  of 
the  cities  of  the  state,  and  the  same,  amended  from  time  to  time,  has 
been  found  very  satisfactorj'  indeed.  The  city  is  still  incorporated 
under  that  act. 

Under  the  first  and  second  citj^  charters,  the  mayor  was  elected 
annually,  and  Col.  Taylor,  the  first  mayor,  succeeded  himself  five 
several  times,  beginning  with  the  election  in  March,  1857,  ^"d  end- 
ing with  the  election  in  March,  1862.  H.  Watson  Webb  was  chosen 
mayor  in  March,  1863,  without  opposition.  At  the  election  in  March, 
1864,  Col.  Taylor  again  became  a  candidate  for  the  office,  but  was 
defeated  by  David  J.  Baker.  This  contest  is  said  to  have  been  a  very 
unusual  one  and  the  result  very  unexpected  to  Col.  Taylor's  friends. 
Baker,  however,  was  a  very  popular  man  with  the  Democrats  as  well  as 
with  Republicans.  Moreover,  from  the  earliest  time  in  the  cit>''s 
history  to  the  present  time,  politics  have  never  played  any  very'  im- 
portant part.  It  may  also  be  stated  that  the  people  probably  thought 
that  Col.  Taylor  had  been  quite  sufficiently  honored  by  his  prior  six 
elections. 

At  the  risk  of  taking  too  much  space,  I  give  here  the  number  of 
votes  Col.  Taylor  and  his  competitors  received  at  each  of  the  elections 
of  1857  to  1864,  and  the  names  and  lengths  of  terms  of  all  subse- 
quent mayors. 

1857 — Samuel  S.  Taylor,  211;  W.  J.  Stephens,   159. 

1858 — Samuel    S.   Taylor,    382;    Barney   Mooney,    10. 

1859 — Samuel  S.  Taylor,  290;  John  Howley,  200. 

i860 — Samuel  S.  Taylor,  299;  Jno.  W.  Trover,  230. 

1861— Samuel   S.  Taylor,   361;  W.   R.   Burke,   319. 

1862 — H.  Watson  Webb,  345;  no  opposition. 

1863 — Samuel  S.  Taylor,  389;  Thomas  Wilson,  298. 

1864 — Samuel  S.  Taylor,  354;  David  J.  Baker,  380. 

Thomas  V/ilson,  mayor  from  February,  1865,  to  February,  1867. 

John  W.  Trover,  mayor  from  February,  1867,  to  February,  1868. 

Alexander  G.   Holden,  mayor  from  February,    1868,   to  February, 

1869. 

Jno.  H.  Oberly,  maj'or  from  Februarj^,  1869,  to  Februarj',  1870. 
Thomas  Wilson,  mayor  from  February,  1870,  to  February,  1871. 
John  M.  Lansden,  mayor  from  February,   1871,  to  April,   1873. 


i8o  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

John  Wood,  mayor  from  April,  1873,  to  April,  1875. 

Henrj^  Winter,  mayor  from  April,   1875,  to  April,   1879. 

N.  B.  Thistlewood,  ma3'or  from  April,  1879,  to  April,  1883. 

Thomas  W.  Halliday,  mayor  from  April,  1883,  to  September,  1892. 

Chas.  O.  Patier,  mayor  from  September,  1892,  to  April,  1895. 

Corodon  R.  Woodward,  mayor  from  April,  1895,  to  April,  1897. 

N.  B.  Thistlewood,  mayor  from  April,  1897,  to  April,  1901. 

Marion  C.  Wright,  mayor  from  April,  1901,  to  April,  1903, 

Claude  Winter,  mayor  from  April,   1903,  to  April,  1905. 

George  Parsons,  mayor  from  April,   1905,  to  present  time. 

The  city  has,  therefore,  had  seventeen  several  mayors  during  a 
period  of  fifty-three  years,  beginning  with  Col.  Taylor's  election  in 
March,  1857,  ^"d  ending  with  the  election  of  George  Parsons  in  April, 
1909.  Thistlewood,  Woodward,  Parsons,  and  the  writer  are  now 
living.  Of  Col.  Taylor  I  have  elsewhere  given  a  somewhat  lengthy 
biographical  sketch. 

H.  Watson  Webb  was  city  attorney  two  or  three  times  after  serv- 
ing one  term  as  mayor.  He  lived  many  years  in  the  city.  He  was  a 
son  of  Col.  Henry  L.  Webb,  a  very  prominent  man  in  his  day,  and 
was  born  at  Trinity,  the  now  almost  forgotten  town  on  the  Ohio  just 
south  of  the  mouth  of  Cache  River.  The  Webbs  were  of  the  cele- 
brated family  of  Webbs  in  New  York,  one  of  whom  was  James  Webb, 
for  years  prominent  in  New  York  politics.  Mr.  Webb  left  Cairo 
many  years  ago  and  wxnt  to  San  Francisco  and  there  remained  some 
considerable  time.  Subsequently  he  removed  to  Portland,  Oregon, 
and  there  died  a  few  years  ago.  In  both  cities,  as  here,  he  practiced 
his  profession  of  the  law. 

David  J.  Baker  succeeded  Mr.  Webb  and  was  mayor  from  1864  to 
1865.  He  was  liked  by  every  one,  just  as  he  seemed  to  like  every  one 
else,  such  was  his  good  nature.  He  was  a  good  lawyer  and  an 
able  judge.  He  served  on  the  circuit  and  appellate  court  benches 
many  years,  and  one  full  term  of  nine  years  on  the  bench  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  state.  If  any  trait  of  his  character  seemed  in  anywise 
to  be  above  or  superior  to  his  intellectual  abilities  as  a  lawyer  and  a 
judge,  it  was  shown  in  his  great  desire  to  get  at  the  truth  and  the 
right  of  matters  and  to  decide  fairly  and  justly.  He  was  not  a  brilliant 
man  as  the  phrase  goes.  He  was  something  more  and  better  than 
that.  While  he  enjoyed  eloquent  speech  and  fine  writing,  he  liked 
best  those  simpler  methods  of  speech  by  which  truth  is  brought  to 
light  and  error  disclosed.  Somewhat  like  Judge  John  H.  Mulkey, 
whom  he  succeeded  on  the  supreme  court  bench,  he  was  distrustful  of 
first  impressions,  and  always  waited  until  his  mind  had  obtained  a  full 
view  of  the  whole  matter  in  hand  before  he  proceeded  to  pronounce 
judgment.  His  opinions  while  supreme  judge  extend  through  forty- 
two  volumes  of  reports. 

Thomas  Wilson  succeeded  Judge  Baker  and  was  mayor  from  1865 
to  1867  and  from  1870  to  1871.  He  was  a  large,  fine  looking  man.  In 
natural  abilities  and  force  of  character,  he  was  not  behind  any  one  of 


TOWN  AND  CITY  GOVERNMENT i8][ 

those  seventeen.  He  was  as  strong  mentally  as  he  was  large  and 
strong  physically.  Had  he  been  favored  with  the  advantages  of  a 
thorough  educational  training,  and  had  sought  wider  fields  of  activit}^ 
he  would  have  stood  in  the  very  front  rank  in  the  political  world,  if 
not  also  in  the  business  world.  I  am  not  speaking  of  him  when  I 
say  some  men  like  a  little  education,  a  little  better  than  much.  Much 
is  dangerous  and  should  be  avoided.  We  hear  this  quite  too  often.  A 
little  learning  with  them  is  not  a  dangerous  thing.  The  danger  is  in 
much.  They  reverse  Pope,  and  say  that  the  danger  is  in  drinking 
deep  of  the  Pierian  spring.  This  view  that  one  may  know  too  much, 
may  be  too  well  informed,  may  have  his  mind  broadened  and  strength- 
ened too  much,  may  be  too  much  of  a  man  mentally,  sets  a  premium 
on  ignorance  and  would  level  to  the  ground  well  nigh  every  high 
institution  of  learning  in  the  country.  I  would  say,  "Do  not  be  afraid 
of  getting  too  much  education.  It  is  like  the  fresh  air;  one  cannot 
get  too  much  of  it."  Wilson  was  fairly  well  educated ;  but  had  he 
gotten  anj^where,  or  by  any  means,  a  good  college  education  or  its 
equivalent,  he  could  have  stood  before  kings.  It  would  have  developed 
all  of  his  splendid  natural  faculties.  It  would  have  given  him  con- 
fidence, without  which  men  never  can  do  their  best.  It  would  have 
lifted  him  higher  in  his  own  good  and  sound  judgment,  and 
have  equipped  him  well  for  successful  work  with  great  men  almost 
anywhere.  He  never  came  to  a  full  knowledge  of  the  extent  and  char- 
acter of  his  natural  endowments.  It  may  have  been  best.  It  is  some- 
times. Feeling  strongly  what  one  might  be,  yet  never  being  it,  can 
never  be  a  happy  thought. 

John  TV.  Trover  succeeded  Wilson  and  was  mayor  from  1867  to 
1868.  He  formerly  lived  in  the  central  part  of  the  state,  perhaps  in 
Cass  County,  the  count}'  from  which  Robert  W.  Miller  came.  He 
was  president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Cairo.  He  was  a  Re- 
publican in  politics  and  was  successful  in  his  race  for  maj'or  against 
Judge  H.  K.  S.  O'Melveny,  who  ran  as  a  Democrat.  Judge  O'Mel- 
veny  judged  the  Cairo  democracy  by  the  Marion  County  democracy. 
Up  there  they  always  voted  the  ticket,  and  he  supposed  the  same  was 
the  rule  down  in  Alexander.  But  he  had  been  here  but  a  short  time 
and  did  not  know  the  habits  of  the  people  in  their  local  elections. 
Trover  was  one  of  the  boys,  and  the  boys  and  Trover  won.  Judge 
O'Melveny's  defeat  wounded  him  severely.  He  had  not  sought  the 
office  and  did  not  want  it  at  all ;  but  a  number  of  his  Democratic  friends 
said  he  must  make  the  race  and  he  did,  with  the  result  stated.  He 
removed  to  Los  Angeles  in  November,  1869;  and  after  I  had  been 
elected  city  attorney  in  February,  1870,  he  wrote  me  and  said  he 
could  not  see  how  I  could  get  the  consent  of  my  mind  to  trust  my 
chances  for  an  office  to  such  unreliable  voters  as  we  had  here  in  Cairo. 
At  that  election  in  1870,  Fountain  E.  Albright  was  the  candidate 
against  me.  It  was  known  that  ver}'  soon  the  colored  people  of  the 
city  were  to  have  the  right  to  vote,  and  on  the  day  of  the  election 
Fountain  went  about  telling  his  friends  that  they  must  come  out  and 


i82  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

vote,  for  this  election,  he  said,  was  to  be  the  last  white  man's  election 
we  would  have.  Since  that  time,  about  thirty-eight  years  ago,  we 
have  not  indeed  had  a  white  man's  election — an  election  at  which  only 
white  men  could  vote.  I  must  not  omit  to  say  that  Judge  O'Melveny 
was  a  splendid  man,  an  able  lawyer,  and  an  able  circuit  judge,  and 
one  would  have  to  go  very  far  and  inquire  very  diligently  to  find  a  man 
of  superior  character  or  more  exemplar}'  personal  conduct. 

Alexander  G.  H olden  succeeded  Trover,  and  was  mayor  from  1868 
to  1869.  Like  Judge  O'Melveny,  Doctor  Holden  did  not  want  the 
office ;  but  his  friends  insisted  that  there  was  nothing  that  could  pos- 
sibly be  said  against  him  and  that  he  must  make  the  race.  He  yielded. 
His  friends  judged  rightly,  and  he  was  elected.  He  gave  all  the  time 
he  could  to  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties.  He  was  careful  and 
painstaking  and  ventured  little  without  first  getting  the  best  advice 
obtainable. 

John  H.  Oberly  succeeded  Dr.  Holden,  and  was  mayor  from  1869 
to  1 87 1.  He  came  to  Cairo  from  Memphis  soon  after  the  war  began. 
It  seems  that  his  views  concerning  secession  and  the  war  were  not 
favorable  to  his  longer  remaining  there.  He  became  identified  with 
the  "Cairo  Democrat"  soon  after  leaving  Memphis.  In  1868  he  started 
the  "Cairo  Bulletin" ;  and  after  editing  and  publishing  that  paper  a 
number  of  years,  he  removed  to  Bloomington  and  there  engaged  in 
editing  the  "Bloomington  Bulletin."  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
legislature  from  this  county  in  the  years  1872-1874;  and  in  the  years 
1877-1881  he  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Railroad  and  Warehouse 
Commissioners.  Still  later,  he  became  commissioner  under  President 
Cleveland,  of  the  Indian  schools.  He  was  a  man  of  versatile  talents. 
He  had  been  an  editor  almost  all  his  life.  He  wrote  well,  few  editors 
better.  He  was  much  given  to  severity  of  criticism,  so  much  so  that 
his  friends  did  not  always  escape.  It  seemed  sometimes  to  be  a  mere 
matter  of  exercising  his  pen.  Even  Secretary  Vilas  came  in  for  a  share, 
and  he  was  so  affected  by  it  that  President  Cleveland  said  there  was 
no  use  appointing  Oberly  to  another  office  while  Vilas  was  in  the 
senate.  He  had  gone  there  soon  after  he  left  the  cabinet.  This  trait 
of  Oberly's  character  was  much  in  his  way  to  the  success  he  should 
have  won ;  for  he  was  indeed  a  man  of  brilliant  endowments.  Nature 
had  not  stopped  short  of  making  him  a  genius.  He  was  of  a  happy 
and  genial  temperament  and  exceedingly  interesting  in  conversation. 
He  made  a  good  mayor,  but  complaints  were  made  that  he  was  too 
strongly  inclined  toward  Col.  Taylor  and  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City 
Property.  Let  me  add  that  Mrs.  Oberly  was  equally  talented.  The 
whole  family,  indeed,  was  one  of  unusual  intelligence. 

John  M.  Lansden  succeeded  Oberly,  and  was  mayor  two  terms, 
that  is,  from  February,  1871,  to  April,  1873.  By  the  city's  changing  its 
incorporation,  under  the  act  of  1867,  to  incorporation  under  the  gen- 
eral act  of  1872,  his  second  term  of  office  was  extended  two  months, 
that  is,  from  February  to  April,  1873. 

Col.  John  Wood  succeeded  Lansden,  and  was  mayor  from  1873  to 
1875,  one  term.    He  had  been  in  the  war,  and  came  to  Cairo  a  short  time 


— ^ 


George  PARSONi/ 


Mayors  of  Cairo 


TOWN  AND  CITY  GOVERNMENT 183 

before  its  close.  He  was  a  contractor  for  some  years  before  he  went 
into  the  milling  and  wholesale  grocery  business.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  city  council  two  or  three  or  more  terms  before  he  became  mayor. 
He  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  independent  and  outspoken  coun- 
cilmen  and  mayors  the  city  ever  had.  The  most  serious  objection  any 
one  ever  heard  made  to  him  as  a  man,  councilman  or  mayor,  was  that 
he  was  so  hard  to  move  from  any  position  he  had  taken.  He  was  a 
Scotchman.  His  term  of  office  was  so  satisfactory  to  the  people 
that  had  there  been  a  higher  position  for  bestowment  on  any  one,  he 
would  have  received  it. 

Henry  Winter  succeeded  Wood,  and  was  mayor  from  1877  to  188 1, 
two  terms.  He,  was  an  Englishman,  and  came  to  Cairo  in  1856.  He 
carried  oin  many  branches  of  business;  was  highly  public  spirited;  was 
the  father  and  promoter  of  the  whole  business  of  fire  protection;  was 
kind  and  charitable  in  every  way  and  manner,  and  took  great  interest 
in  all  public  matters.  He  had  not  much  use  for  strict  laws  in  infringe- 
ment of  personal  liberty  in  this  democratic  country  of  ours.  He  was 
an  anti-Taylor  man,  and  yet  thought  a  great  deal  of  Col.  Taylor  and 
Taylor  of  him.  He  was  tenacious  enough,  and  had  run  for  mayor 
two  or  three  times  before  his  election  in  1877.  He  had  a  strong  per- 
sonal following,  more  than  any  of  the  others  ever  had.  He  was 
mayor  in  the  epidemic  of  the  yellow  fever  in  1878,  and  had  the  mayor 
been  any  one  else,  there  is  no  telling  how  the  city  or  the  people  thereof 
would  have  fared. 

N.  B.  Thistlezuood,  our  present  congressman,  succeeded  Winter 
and  was  mayor  from  1881  to  1885,  and  again,  from  1897  to  1901, 
four  terms.  He  had  not  been  here  a  great  many  years  when  he  was 
first  elected,  but  he  took  such  great  interest  in  the  public  matters  of 
the  city  and  of  the  people  that  they  felt  they  could  not  do  better  than 
to  intrust  him  with  the  chief  charge  of  its  affairs.  What  he  undertook 
he  always  did  well.  He  was  never  satisfied  with  half-way  or  half- 
done  work.  He  soon  became  a  Cairo  man  and  has  always  been  that. 
He  looked  upon  the  town  as  so  situated  that  the  rules  applicable  to  most 
places  not  larger  could  not  be  closely  applied  to  it.  As  to  city  govern- 
ment, he  has  always  thought  that  strict  laws  of  a  sumptuary  nature 
often  defeated  themselves.  Had  he  chosen  the  Latin  with  which  to 
express  his  idea  about  the  matter,  he  would  have  said  medio  tutissitnus 
ibis,  that  is  to  say,  the  middle  course  is  the  safest.  Of  all  who  have 
come  here  in  these  many  years,  few,  if  any  of  us,  could  name  a  more 
desirable  or  public-spirited  citizen.  I  have  before  referred  to  Mayor 
Thistlewood  when  speaking  of  the  flood  of   1882. 

Thomas  W.  HalUday  succeeded  Thistlewood  at  the  expiration  of  his 
second  term,  and  was  mayor  from  April,  1883,  to  August,  1892,  almost 
nine  and  one-half  }^ears.  He  was  chosen  mayor  five  successive  times, 
one  less  than  his  father-in-law.  Col.  Samuel  Staats  Taylor,  whose 
terms,  however,  were  only  one  year  each.  On  two  or  three  occasions, 
Halliday  had  no  opposition.  He  died  in  August,  1892.  Had  he  lived 
there  is  no  telling  how  long  he  would  have  been  continued  in  the 
office.     Frequent  elections  to  office  generally  indicate  the  high  regard 


1 84 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

of  the  people.  His  must  be  attributed  largely  to  the  easy  and  friendly 
terms  he  alvvaj^s  succeeded  in  maintaining  with  almost  every  member 
of  his  various  city  councils.  He  knevi^  and  fully  realized  that  without 
the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  members  of  the  legislative  body  of  the 
city,  he  himself  could  not  do  much.  Hence,  his  constant  endeavor  was 
to  obtain  and  keep  the  friendly  feeling  of  the  city's  ward  representa- 
tives. And  it  therefore  followed,  very  naturally,  that  these  ward 
representatives  were  generally  for  him  when  the  mayor's  election  came 
on.  He  was  very  successful  in  making  it  appear  that  almost  every- 
thing that  came  up  and  went  through,  was  really  the  measure  of  some 
one  of  the  councilmen.  He  kept  himself  somewhat  in  the  background, 
but  not  so  much  so  as  to  be  quite  out  of  sight  of  a  clear-visioned  man. 

Halliday  took  great  pleasure  in  being  mayor,  although  it  added 
largely  to  his  other  rather  hard  work.  He  laudibly  liked  to  have  the 
good  will  and  approval  of  the  people  of  the  city.  I  cannot  enumerate 
the  measures  he  started  and  carried  through  for  the  material  im- 
provement of  the  cit}\  I  can  only  say  that  he  was  a  strong  friend  of 
public  improvements,  and  that  too,  when  our  laws  were  in  a  poor 
shape  to  facilitate  public  work.  Tom  was  a  Halliday  man  and  a 
Taylor  man,  of  course.  To  outsiders,  this  may  not  mean  much,  but 
to  Cairo  people  it  is  a  little  volume.  Tom  steered  his  official  craft 
around  among  the  breakers  and  reefs  with  a  success  that  surprised 
both  sides,  and  thereby  largely  obtained  their  favor.  It  was  adminis- 
trative ability  of  the  highly  useful  variety,  which  is  the  only  kind 
really  ever  needed.  He  was  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of  our 
legislature  in  1879;  and  the  writer  has  often  heard  members  from 
the  upper  part  of  the  state  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of  his  services  in 
that  body. 

Charles  O.  Patier  was  selected  by  the  cit>'  council  to  fill  out  the 
unexpired  portion  of  the  term  of  Halliday,  that  is,  from  August,  1892, 
to  April,  1893,  when  he  became  a  candidate  for  election  to  that  office. 
He  was  successful,  and  gave  the  city  his  very  best  services.  Although 
disagreeing  with  his  immediate  predecessor  in  many  things,  he  never- 
theless admired  him,  and  more  especially  his  successful  management  of 
city  council  work.  Halliday  had  become  so  familiar  with  cit\^  matters 
that  many  of  the  aldermen  looked  to  him  for  guidance,  if  I  may  be 
permitted  to  use  such  a  word.  Patier  liked  Halliday  and  yet  he  did 
not,  very  much  as  Captain  Halliday  liked  David  T.  Linegar  and 
Linegar  him,  and  yet  they  did  not.  Patier  diligently  sought  informa- 
tion ;  that  is  but  saying  he  wanted  to  be  right.  He  thought  the  town 
was  too  low  and  that  if  it  needed  anything  at  all  that  thing  was  earth 
filling;  and  he  accordingly  decided  to  try^  his  mayor's  hand  on  the  im- 
portant matter  of  filling  the  low  lots  with  earth  under  the  Linegar 
bill,  of  which  we  have  before  spoken.  He  knew  that  Linegar  had 
worked  hard  to  draw  up  a  good  and  sound  bill,  and  thought  it  should 
at  least  be  given  a  fair  trial.  This  he  started  out  to  do,  as  we  have 
already  set  forth  in  Chapter  IX ;  but  he  was  succeeded  in  office  by  one 
of  our  citizens,  who  was  lukewarm  about  the  matter,  although  quite 
active  about  many  other  things;  and  so  the  work  Patier  started  was 


TOWN  AND  CITY  GOVERNMENT  185 

dropped ;  and  shortly  afterwards  Capt.  Halliday  gave  the  act  itself  its 
death-blow  up  at  Springfield,  that  is  to  say,  he  procured  its  repeal  by 
the  legislature.  I  need  not  repeat  it  here,  but  concerning  Patier  it 
may  be  well  and  truly  said  that  he  undertook  to  do  one  of  the  very  best 
things  that  was  ever  undertaken  in  Cairo,  and  that  he  failed  was  not 
his  fault;  it  was  the  city's  misfortune.  Charlie  justly  prided  himself 
on  his  military  record,  which  extended  through  the  war.  I  might  say 
the  same  as  to  his  being  one  of  the  306  delegates  who  voted  in  the 
Chicago  convention  for  a  third  nomination  of  General  Grant  for  Presi- 
dent. 

Corodon  R.  Woodward  succeeded  Patier,  and  was  mayor  from  1895 
to  1897.  He  had  resided  in  Cairo  a  long  time,  but  had  never  cared 
much  for  office.  His  business  had  grown  under  his  careful  and  wise 
management  and  to  such  proportions  that  he  felt  he  could  safely  under- 
take the  duties  of  the  mayor's  office.  He  ran  and  was  elected,  to 
the  surprise  of  some  and  to  the  joy  of  others;  for  many  persons  thought 
that  a  new  man  in  a  place  new  to  him  might  bring  about  a  change, 
productive  of  good  to  the  city.  He  took  hold  of  city  affairs  in  his  own 
way,  that  is,  very  much  as  though  no  one  had  ever  been  mayor  before. 
He  did  not  care  to  be  bound  by  what  is  called  precedents  or  old  methods. 
In  a  word  or  two,  ever}^  one  expected  that  he  would  turn  over  a  new 
leaf  of  some  kind.  I  cannot  stop  to  enter  into  details,  but  will  speak 
of  one  change  he  made,  a  change  back  to  a  former  state  of  things  in 
the  city. 

In  1865  and  1866,  the  city  expended  ver}^  many  thousand  dollars 
at  the  intersection  of  Ohio  and  Tenth  Streets  for  pumps  to  lift  the 
seepage  water  over  the  levee  and  back  into  the  river;  but  after  a  few 
years  of  use  and  owing  to  the  great  expense  of  operation  and  main- 
tenance, they  were  abandoned  and  the  valuable  machinerj^  and  imple- 
ments sold.  The  writer  well  remembers  hearing  Capt.  Halliday  say 
at  the  time  that  the  city  would  some  time  regret  the  destruction  or 
abandonment  of  its  pumping  plant.  Woodward  returned  to  the  work 
of  pumping  our  seepage  water  into  the  river,  but  with  new  and  far 
better  pumping  machinery,  and  the  success  of  the  work  was  such  that 
one  had  but  to  go  up  to  the  intersection  of  those  streets  to  see  a  great 
stream  of  water  five  or  more  feet  wide  and  one  or  more  deep,  plunging 
over  the  levee  and  back  into  the  river,  whence  it  had  stealthily  come. 
It  was  a  kind  of  revelation ;  and  although  Woodward  himself  has  gone 
away,  yet  the  system  will  no  doubt  be  m.aintained  until  we  have  banished 
the  seepage  water  by  filling  up  the  places  which  it  annually  invades. 
Before  passing  on  to  another  mayor,  let  me  say  that  the  pump  has  now 
been  running  ten  years,  when  needed,  and  no  one  now  doubts  its 
efficiency.  It  is  no  doubt  a  patented  machine,  but  with  us  it  ought 
to  be  called  Woodward's  pump. 

Capt.  Thistleivood  succeeded  Woodward,  and  was  again  maj^or, 
and  from  1897  to  1901,  as  above  stated.  He  thus  held  and  filled  out 
four  full  terms  of  two  years  each.     I  need  not  repeat  here  what  I  have 


i86  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

before  said  of  him.  By  his  frequent  elections  one  would  suppose,  and 
no  doubt  very  properly,  that  the  only  condition  to  his  election  to  the 
chief  office  of  the  city  was  his  allowance  of  his  name  to  be  used  as  a 
candidate. 

Marion  C.  Wright  succeeded  Capt.  Thistlewood,  and  was  mayor 
from  1901  to  1903.  He  had  long  been  a  resident  of  Cairo  and  a  very 
busy  man.  For  much  of  his  life,  he  had  charge  of  important  branches 
of  Capt.  Halliday's  extensive  business  enterprises,  and  no  one  supposed 
that  he  had  any  kind  of  a  taste  or  turn  for  public  office.  He,  however, 
took  the  office  and  held  it  but  one  term,  declining  to  be  persuaded  into 
standing  for  the  place  again.  He  had  found  the  duties  of  the  office 
so  out  of  keeping  with  everything  with  which  he  ever  had  anything 
to  do  in  a  business  way,  that  he  wanted  no  more  of  office-holding. 
Before  the  close  of  the  term  of  his  office,  he  undertook  a  reform  move- 
ment in  the  city,  and  cleared  out,  at  least  for  the  time  being,  a  certain 
central  location  in  the  city.  His  motives  were  challenged  and  said  to 
be  bad,  just  as  would  have  been  the  case  of  any  one  else  who  had  under- 
taken to  do  and  had  done  what  he  did.  I  am  not  able  to  speak  of 
Wright's  motive,  but  whatever  it  was,  the  thing  done  was  little,  if 
any,  short  of  the  very  best  thing  ever  done  in  the  city,  in  a  moral 
sense.  When  a  good  thing  is  done,  it  is  generally  a  poor  and  silly 
thing  to  say  the  motive  was  bad.  A  blind  man,  whose  sight  had  been 
given  back  to  him,  once  said  in  substance,  that  he  did  not  know  who 
he  was  who  healed  him  nor  what  his  motive  was,  but  one  thing  he 
knew  and  that  was,  whereas,  he  was  once  blind,  he  now  could  see.  I 
need  not  speak  of  the  undoing  of  what  Wright  did,  with  his  goodor 
bad  motive,  whichever  it  was,  nor  of  the  majority  by  which  the  undoing 
was  ordered.  The  straight-forw^ard  and  honest  thing  for  his  critics 
to  say  was  that  what  Wright  did  was  wrong  and  should  be  undone, 
and  the  former  condition  re-established,  just  as  it  was.  It  was  not 
a  question  of  motives  at  all. 

Claude  Winter  succeeded  Wright,  and  was  mayor  from  1903  to 
1905.  He  was  Cairo  born  and  has  been  an  industrious  and  hard 
working  boy  and  young  man,  always  cheerful,  friendly_  and  accommo- 
dating. He  made  friends  easily  and  retained  them  quite  as  well  and 
probably  better  than  most  persons.  His  father  had  been  mayor,  and 
a  more  or  less  prominent  man  in  Cairo  for  verj^  many  years ;  and  Claude 
was  justly  ambitious  to  reach  the  mayor's  office.  He  was  full  of 
energy,  and  pushed  everything  he  took  hold  of,  and  became  very  suc- 
cessful in  business,  and  very  naturally  with  this  success  came  the  desire 
to  obtain  some  formal  recognition  of  himself  and  his  faithful  attention 
to  his  duties  as  a  citizen  and  as  a  business  man  of  the  city.  _  It  was  to 
be  supposed  that  his  views  of  city  government  would  not  differ  widely 
from  those  of  his  father,  whose  views  concerning  the  same,  as  we  have 
before  stated,  wxre  of  a  very  liberal  character.  Claude's  administration 
of  the  office  accorded  fully  with  the  views  of  his  supporters  and  tended 


TOWN  AND  CITY  GOVERNMENT  187 

strongly  to  show  the  kind  of  a  city  government  he  thought  the  people 
of  Cairo  wanted.  I  must  not  omit  to  say  that  Claude  Winter  did 
everything  he  possibly  could  to  start  and  carry  on  public  improvements. 
Just  as  soon  as  the  legislature  provided  for  the  making  of  public  im- 
provements without  petitions  of  property  holders,  he  took  hold  of  the 
matter  and  was  getting  very  much  of  the  preliminary  work  done  for 
a  large  number  of  the  streets  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  when  the 
supreme  court  held  the  law  unconstitutional,  and  thus  put  an  end  to 
the  improvement  work  going  on  under  him. 

George  Parsons  succeeded  Claude  Winter  as  mayor  in  April,  1905. 
He  was  re-elected  in  April,  1907,  and  again  in  April,  1909,  and  is  now 
entering  upon  the  sixth  year  of  his  terms  of  service.  It  is  said  by 
many  persons  that  his  pledges  of  reform  secured  him  his  first  election. 
Some  persons  do  not  like  the  word  reform.  The  expressions,  reform 
movement,  reform  party,  platform  of  reform,  sound  badly  in  their  ears. 
They  say  the  word  repels  people.  The  reason  for  this,  if  there  is  any, 
is  that  so  many  reform  movements  turn  out  to  be  no  reforms  at  all. 
The  word  is  a  good  one  and  does  not  deserve  to  be  thus  thrown  into 
the  scrap  heap  of  desuetude.  People  who  are  scared  off  from  any  good 
movement  because  of  the  words  by  which  it  is  described  might  as  well 
be  openly  against  it.  And  yet,  I  suppose,  there  is  something  in  a  name. 
It  ought  to  be  a  reasonable  something,  however. 

The  writer  does  not  recall  the  fact  that  Mayor  Parsons  was  elected 
as  a  reform  mayor.  If  he  was,  the  reform  never  came.  Matters 
concerning  which  the  word  reform  is  generally  used  went  on  in  the 
city  the  same  as  before ;  nor  has  there  been  up  to  this  time  any  change 
worth  mentioning.  The  fact  is,  there  has  never  been  much  of  a  change 
in  the  general  character  of  the  city's  police  administration.  At  times 
it  has  been  better  and  at  times  worse,  but  its  general  tenor  has  never 
been  of  a  high  grade.  The  people,  or  a  great  many  of  them,  have 
wanted  a  rather  free  and  easy  administration  of  police  matters,  a  kind 
of  administration  that  is  likely  to  become  entirely  too  free  and  easy, 
even  for  the  advocates  of  the  free  and  easy  policy.  A  sound  head  and 
a  strong  hand  are  needed  to  administer  city  affairs  where  the  police 
policy  is  of  the  free  and  easy  order.  To  see  just  where  liberty  ends 
and  license  begins  requires  discrimination.  Some  see  the  boundary 
line  and  some  do  not;  but  whether  seen  or  not,  the  line  is  quite  too 
often  disregarded  and  passed  over  with  impunity^  Mayor  Parsons  and 
his  chiefs  of  police  have  said  they  were  giving  the  people  of  the  city 
the  kind  of  police  government  they  wanted,  and  that  they  were  serving 
the  people,  or  a  large  majority  of  them,  vtxy  acceptably.  It  has  not 
been  a  question  of  what  was  really  best  for  the  people  generally  or 
what  was  lawful  under  the  city  laws  or  whether  the  laws  of  the  city 
should  be  enforced,  but  what  did  the  people  or  a  majority 
of  them  want.  This,  however,  has  left  them  pretty  much  the  sole 
judges  of  what  the  people  wanted.  They  have  failed  to  remember 
that  what  the  people  wanted,  or  are  supposed  to  want,  is  found  in  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


laws  of  the  city  and  state.  Outside  of  these,  it  is  difficult,  if  not  im- 
possible, to  ascertain  what  the  people  want.  They,  the  mayor  and 
the  police,  have  not  wanted  a  wide  open  town  but  one  that  was  some- 
what open.  The  door  somewhat  open,  or  the  lid  somewhat  lifted  is 
the  proper  figurative  expression.  But  as  above  remarked,  to  open  the 
door  just  enough  and  keep  it  from  being  pushed  wide  open  requires 
sound  judgment,  great  strength  and  inflexible  purpose.  These  are 
qualifications  not  often  found  in  combination. 

I  have  said  this  much  about  our  present  cit)^  administration  now  in 
its  sixth  year,  because  so  much  has  been  said  about  it  during  the  past 
year  or  two,  and  because,  too,  I  have  desired  to  express  my  own  views 
of  such  matters  without  any  regard  to  particular  persons.  It  would 
be  quite  unjust  for  me  to  close  this  short  notice  of  Mayor  Parsons 
without  presenting  some  other  features  of  his  administration  besides 
the  important  one  above  given.  In  every  city,  in  ever\^  communit>', 
the  moral  and  the  material  must  go  along  side  by  side.  The  im- 
portance of  each  requires  both  to  be  kept  ever  in  mind.  In  every 
city  there  should  be  good  schools  and  other  institutions  of  learning, 
good  churches,  good  societies  and  other  means  and  sources  of  culture 
and  entertainment,  the  least  of  drinking  or  drunkenness,  of  gambling 
and  of  other  evils,  and  on  the  other  hand,  plenty  of  good  water,  good 
lighting,  good  streets,  good  street  cars,  and  other  like  improvements. 
These  all  seem  to  be  the  needs  of  satisfactory  city  life.  In  Cairo,  our 
greatest  and  longest  existing  material  want  has  been  good  streets,  the 
ven^  first  distinguishing  features  of  the  city  after  the  houses  are  built. 
The  streets,  more  than  almost  anything  else,  speak  for  or  against  the 
city.  Mayor  Parsons  fully  realized  this  and  at  once  entered  upon  a 
policy  of  street  improvement.  To  judge  somewhat  of  the  work  done 
we  have  but  to  look  at  Ohio  Street,  Twenty-Eighth  Street,  Sycamore 
Street,  Washington  Avenue,  Poplar  Street,  Thirt>'-Fourth  Street, 
Elm  Street,  Second  Street,  Walnut  Street  and  Tvi^enty-First  Street, 
all  now  paved,  and  it  is  believed  in  the  most  substantial  and  permanent 
manner.  Then,  too,  we  have  had  the  very  large  sewer  on  Commercial 
Avenue  from  Second  to  Thirty-Eighth  Street  and  the  outlet  sewer  on 
Tenth  Street  to  the  river  and  the  various  lateral  sewers  connecting 
with  the  main  sewer  on  said  avenue.  Other  w^orks  and  improvements 
of  an  important  nature  I  need  not  enumerate  here ;  but  it  is_  well 
worthy  of  mention  that  what  he  has  done  has  resulted  in  establishing 
a  most  satisfactory  spirit  of  public  improvement  in  the  people  of  the 
city,  and  now  with  the  important  works  already  projected  and  under 
way,  we  may  be  well  assured  that  this  important  matter  of  city  im- 
provements will  go  on  to  completion,  when,  for  the  great  change  made 
in  the  appearance  of  the  city,  it  will  scarcely  be  recognized  as  the  place 
it  was  five  or  six  years  ago.  It  will,  perhaps,  add  something  to  what 
I  have  already  endeavored  to  express  by  saying  that  the  expenditures 
for  lasting  and  permanent  improvements  made  during  the  last  five 
years  exceeds  very  considerably  all  of  the  expendituresthat  were  made 
in  the  city  for  like  improvements  during  the  preceding  forty-five  or 
fifty  years,  or  since  the  city's  organization  in  1857. 


TOWN  AND  CITY  GOVERNMENT  189 

While  the  chief  credit  for  all  this  very  desirable  work  must  be  set 
down  to  Mayor  Parsons,  yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  he  has  been 
highly  seconded  by  the  Board  of  Local  Improvements,  the  city  council 
and  their  legal  adviser,  Mr.  Angus  Leek,  to  whose  skillful  and 
painstaking  attention  large  credit  is  due.  Nor  does  it  detract  from  the 
work  of  any  of  these  gentlemen  to  saj^  that  m.uch  also  is  due  to  the 
spirit  and  wishes  of  the  people  of  the  city,  who  so  far  and  during  the 
entire  time  have  in  every  way  encouraged  the  carrying  on  of  the  good 
work. 

Then,  too,  Mayor  Parsons  has  added  about  thirty-five  thousand 
dollars  to  the  city's  annual  revenues  by  obtaining  an  increase  of  the 
saloon  license  fee  from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand  dollars.  I  cannot 
admit  that  this  was  a  bad  thing  to  do,  considering  the  strongly  ex- 
pressed desire  of  the  people  to  have  saloons  and  not  prohibition  in  the 
city.  If  we  are  to  have  them  at  all,  the  higher  the  license  the  better, 
even  if  raising  it  to  the  maximum  should  reduce  the  number  of  saloons 
to  the  minimum.  Many  persons  think  that  every  community  should 
have  its  proper  complement  of  saloons  and  that  without  them  men 
cannot  secure  happiness  or  even  contentment.  I  cannot  agree  with 
this  view;  but  I  am  but  one  of  many  thousand,  and  cannot  complain 
if  other  persons  differ  with  me  and  are  in  the  majorit>\ 

Although  I  have  extended  this  notice  of  Mayor  Parsons'  adminis- 
tration further  than  I  had  intended,  I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that 
while  he  has  done  so  much,  as  I  have  above  set  forth,  the  inquiry  very 
naturally  arises,  could  he  not  have  done  it  all  and  at  the  same  time 
not  have  incurred  the  somewhat  severe  criticism  which  has  been  made 
upon  his  more  recent  management  of  city  aflfairs? 

Of  the  135  voters  at  the  election  for  town  trustees  March  8,  1855, 
mentioned  on  page  177,  I  know  of  none  now  living.  Of  the  391  voters 
who  voted  at  the  first  city  election  March  7,  1857,  I  know  certainly  of 
but  six  who  are  now  living,  or  living  here:  Thomas  Meehan,  James 
Quinn,  Captain  William  M.  Williams,  John  Sullivan,  Jacob  Lehning, 
and  Charles  W.  Henderson.  These  391  names  are  found  on  pages  273 
and  274. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

DARIUS     B.     HOLBROOK,     MILES    A.     GILBERT,     SAMUEL    STAATS    TAYLOR, 
WILLIAM  P.  HALLIDAY,   HALLIDAY  BROTHERS 

DARIUS  BLAKE  HOLBROOK.— The  second  attempt  to 
establish  a  city  here  seems  to  have  been  begun  by  Darius  Blake 
Holbrook,  of  whom  we  have  already  frequently  spoken.  He 
was  not  an  adventurer,  a  dreamer,  or  a  man  of  schemes  merely.  Force 
of  character,  strong  will,  ceaseless  activity  and  enterprise,  initiative, 
ability  to  bring  others  to  see  things  as  he  saw  them,  were  only  some  of 
his  remarkable  endowments.  These  characteristics  were  noticeable  at 
all  times.  Nothing  within  the  bounds  of  reason  seemed  too  hard  for 
him.  Where  others  drew  back  he  pushed  forward.  He  had  no  patience 
with  men  who  floated  with  the  current.  He  would  take  advantage 
of  it  if  it  carried  him  tow^ard  the  goal  of  his  plans  but  if  in  the  other 
direction,  he  turned  against  it  and  buffeted  its  waves  with  a  faith  and 
belief  that  seemed  unconquerable. 

He  must  have  known  all  about  this  place  or  geographical  point 
before  he  came  here.  He  knew  of  the  attempt  and  failure  of  1818. 
He  knew  or  soon  ascertained  who  were  the  owners  of  the  lands  between 
the  rivers;  for  nothing  could  be  safely  done  without  first  acquiring 
good  titles  to  the  lands.  He  knew  the  low  site,  the  river  floods,  the 
abrasions  and  inroads  upon  the  shores,  the  need  of  strong  levees  and 
of  the  clearing  off  of  the  dense  woods.  He  knew  that  while  the 
geographical  point  was  all  that  could  be  desired,  the  proposed  city  must 
have  a  secure  foundation,  a  safe  and  enduring  site.  It  was  more  than 
starting  and  building  a  city.  A  site  had  to  be  first  provided.  But  he 
seems  to  have  firmly  believed  that  he  and  those  associated  with  him 
could  bring  moneyed  men  to  such  a  belief  in  the  feasibility  of  the 
enterprise  as  would  lead  them  to  make  all  necessary  advances  of  means. 
It  was  then  as  it  was  in  1818  and  is  now,  a  question  of  money.  As 
the  first  promoters  in  18 18  left  everything  to  the  control  and  manage- 
ment of  Comegj^s,  so  in  1836  to  1846,  Holbrook  seems  to  have  been 
invested  with  unlimited  authority'.  He  was  said  to  be  not  merely  the 
chief  representative  of  the  companies  but  the  companies  themselves. 
If  such  was  the  case,  it  must  have  been  due  to  the  verj^  general  belief 
that  what  he  wanted  was  needed  and  what  he  did  not  want  was  to  be 
laid  aside.  He  made  two  or  three  trips  to  London,  and  the  great  bank- 
ing house  of  John  Wright  &  Company  became  his  company's  financial 
representative  in  that  city.  These  bankers  were  at  the  same  time  the 
agents  of  our  state  for  the  sale  of  its  canal  bonds.  Besides  Holbrook, 
there  were  in   London   Richard   M.   Young,   then  one  of  our  United 

190 


ORGANIZERS  OF  THE  CITY 191 

States  senators,  and  Ex-Governor  John  Reynolds,  agents  for  the  state 
and  arranging  with  Wright  &  Company  to  take  charge  of  the  state's 
bond  sales.  Daniel  Webster  was  also  there,  and  while  there  gave  his 
written  opinion  to  Holbrook  regarding  his  company's  title  to  the  lands 
it  had  mortgaged  to  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  and  Trust  Company 
to  secure  the  payment  of  its  Cairo  bonds. 

Holbrook  did  everj'thing,  was  everj-where,  saw  ever>'body,  legis- 
lators and  capitalists  and  other  men  of  prominence  and  influence  whom 
he  supposed  might  aid  him.  He  secured  in  London  large  sums  of 
money  and  must  have  used,  here  in  Cairo,  m.ore  than  a  million  of  dol- 
lars. He  paid  large  prices  for  the  lands  he  bought  from  the  Kaskaskia 
people  or  their  heirs  or  grantees.  The  old  record  books  "D"  and  "E," 
of  1836,  1837  and  1838,  now  at  the  court-house,  show  very  large  sums 
as  the  considerations  for  the  various  deeds  taken  by  Holbrook.  He 
and  his  company  had  great  faith  in  their  enterprise,  and  they  deter- 
mined to  obtain  titles  to  the  land  almost  regardless  of  the  price  de- 
manded. 

We  cannot  go  very  fully  into  this  matter  here,  but  will  hurry  on 
to  its  close  by  saying  that  Holbrook  worked  on  faithfully  even  after 
the  failure  of  Wright  &  Company.  He  must  have  known,  however, 
long  before  the  end  came  that  his  attempt  must  meet  a  fate  not  wholly 
unlike  that  which  came  to  the  Kaskaskia  people  in  18 18.  The  great 
London  bankers  had  turned  against  Wright  &  Company  and  brought 
them  to  bankruptcy,  and  he  knew  that  if  he  could  not  raise  money  on 
his  Cairo  bonds  at  the  outstart  in  this  country,  he  certainly  could  not 
do  it  now  that  the  whole  financial  world  was  in  a  state  of  suspense  as 
to  what  would  be  the  outcome  of  the  monetary  depression  almost  the 
world  over. 

Holbrook,  seeing  that  he  could  go  no  further,  set  about  finding  what 
entirely  new  arrangements  might  be  made  by  which  he  and  those  asso- 
ciated with  him  might  save  something  out  of  the  failed  enterprise. 

A  number  of  writers  about  Cairo  have  criticized  him  and  some  of 
them  very  severely.  We  do  not  know  enough  of  the  facts  and  cir- 
cumstances, running  through  a  number  of  years,  to  enable  us  to  express 
a  very  satisfactorj^  opinion  as  to  those  matters  about  which  he  was 
criticized.  The  work  which  he  had  undertaken  was  difficult  in  the 
extreme;  but  as  we  have  before  stated,  he  seems  to  have  firmly  believed 
that  he  could  accomplish  it.  After  the  first  two  or  three  years  he 
must  have  seen  more  clearly  the  difficulty  of  the  situation.  These 
called  forth  only  greater  efforts  on  his  part ;  but  when  it  became  more 
and  more  evident  that  the  situation  was  growing  more  and  more  doubt- 
ful, he  may  have  resorted  to  measures  which  seemed  more  or  less  in- 
consistent with  that  straightforward  kind  of  conduct  about  which  all 
men  speak  well  but  which  many  of  them  find  it  exceedingly  difficult 
to  follow  when  overtaken  by  unexpected  embarrassments.  Obsena- 
tion  shows  that  most  men  in  times  of  severe  financial  trial  and  when 
failure  seems  impending,  will   turn  aside  here  and   there  and  do  this 


192 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

or  that  and  the  other  thing  which  they  would  have  before  severely 
criticized.  Holbrook  was  determined  that  his  enterprise  should  not 
fail,  and  it  was  a  long  time  before  he  could  see  anything  but  success 
ahead  of  him.  What  he  did  at  Washington  and  Springfield_  and  New 
York,  even  as  late  as  1849,  shows  that  his  hope  was  not  entirely  gone, 
although  his  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company  had  already  sold  out  to  the 
Cairo  City  Property  Trust. 

It  may  not  be  strictly  accurate  to  speak  of  Holbrook  as  having 
begun  the  second  attempt  to  start  a  city  here.  Breese,  Gilbert  and 
Swanwick  seem  to  have  first  moved  in  the  matter  and  to  have  sold 
to  Holbrook,  late  in  1835  or  early  in  1836,  an  interest  in  their  land 
entries  here  of  August  and  September,  1835,  and  this  seems  to  have 
been  the  first  introduction  of  Holbrook  to  the  proposed  scheme.  From 
that  time  forward,  he  became  the  leading  spirit  of  the  enterprise,  long 
drawn  out  and  beset  with  many  difficulties. 

Nothing  shows  more  clearly  Holbrook's  influence  than  the  closing 
months  of  Senator  Douglas's  efforts  to  obtain  the  land  grant  of  Sep- 
tember 20,  1850,  for  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  Douglas  knew 
Holbrook  well,  and  their  interviews  at  Washington  and  elsewhere  left 
no  doubt  upon  his  mind  that  Holbrook  was  all  the  while  looking  after 
the  interests  of  Cairo  and  the  railroad  enterprise  represented  by  the 
Great  Western  Railway  charter  of  March  6,  1843.  The  legislature 
at  Springfield,  at  the  instance  of  Holbrook,  amended  the  Great  Western 
charter  February  10,  1849,  to  the  great  disappointment  of  Douglas, 
who,  fearing  that  his  own  plans  might  be  seriously  interfered  with,  left 
Washington  for  Springfield  and  there  addressed  the  members  of  the 
legislature,  whom  he  found  more  or  less  disinclined  to  accept  his  view 
of  the  situation;  and  there  is  no  telling  what  shape  the  matter  would 
have  assumed  had  not  Holbrook  yielded  his  personal  preferences.  He 
seems  to  have  done  so  only  after  obtaining  an  explicit  promise  that  the 
act  of  the  legislature  incorporating  the  new  central  railroad  company 
should  contain  a  clause  requiring  it  to  start  at  and  be  built  from  Cairo. 
He  remembered  well  the  great  effort  made  in  1838  to  change  the 
southern  terminus  of  the  state's  central  railroad  from  Cairo  to  a  point 
near  Grand  Chain;  and  he  put  forth  every  effort  to  guard  against 
another  attempt  of  a  like  nature  with  the  new  road;  and  hence  it  is 
recited  in  the  charter  of  February  10,  185 1,  that  the  road  should  run 
"from  the  southern  terminus  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal  to  a 
point  at  the  city  of  Cairo,"  and  again,  that  it  should  "run  from  the 
city  of  Cairo  to  the  southern  terminus  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan 
canal." 

We  have  elsewhere  presented  somewhat  fully  the  early  history  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  have  shown  that  it  was  originally  a 
southern  Illinois  enterprise,  if  not  in  fact  a  Cairo  enterprise.  In  con- 
sidering Judge  Breese's  connection  with  the  great  undertaking,  Hol- 
brook must  not  be  forgotten;  nor  should  Jenkins,  Gilbert  and  others, 
who  assisted   in  the  great  work,   although  less  prominently.     As  else- 


JK)  Ujl^  Jh^M^^ 


ORGANIZERS  OF  THE  CITY 193 

where  stated,  the  New  York  and  Chicago  men  did  not  care  much 
whether  the  terminus  should  be  at  Cairo  or  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  up 
the  Ohio  River.  It  is  probable  that  many  of  them  preferred  the  Grand 
Chain  location ;  but  Holbrook  stood  in  the  way.  He  had  many  strong 
friends,  and  controlled  two  or  three  charters,  which  Senator  Douglas 
felt  should  be  gotten  out  of  the  way  before  he  could  rest  easy  regarding 
Holbrook  and  his  fertility  of  expedients.  Holbrook  told  him  he  would 
surrender  his  charters,  but  only  upon  condition  that  it  should  be  plainly 
expressed  in  the  act  incorporating  the  railroad  company  that  the  southern 
terminus  of  the  railroad  should  be  at  the  city  of  Cairo. 

From  January  16,  1836,  to  February  10,  1851,  we  have  the  period 
of  something  over  fifteen  years,  during  all  of  which  Holbrook  never 
swerved  an  inch  in  his  devotion  to  the  city  of  Cairo.  The  very  best 
years  of  his  life  he  had  put  into  his  attempt  to  establish  it;  and  if  we 
follow  along  and  note  with  some  care  the  steps  marked  out  plainly 
from  1836  to  this  time,  we  must  readily  agree  that  the  Cairo  of  to-day 
owes  its  existence  more  to  Darius  Blake  Holbrook  than  to  any  other 
man. 

The  following  short  sketch  of  her  father  was  furnished  me  by  his 
daughter.  Baroness  Caroline  Holbrook  Von  Roques. 

"Darius  Blake  Holbrook  was  born  in  Dorchester,  Massachusetts. 
The  Holbrooks  were  from  Shropshire,  England.  His  mother  was  a 
Ridgeway.  Her  family  came  to  the  United  States  in  1628.  Richard 
Ridgeway  was  the  brother  of  Sir  Thomas  Ridgeway,  the  first  Earl 
of  Londonderry,  1622,  which  title  lapsed  and  passed  to  the  Tempests, 
on  failure  of  male  heirs  in  England.  The  Ridgeways  came  to  the 
United  States  on  the  ship  Jacob  and  Mary  in  November,  i679-  They 
landed  in  the  Delaware  River  and  settled  in  Springfield  township, 
Burlington  County,  New  Jersey. 

"He  was  a  prominent  man  in  the  city  of  New  York  for  many  years, 
and  had  great  ability  and  large  personal  influence  with  all  with  whom 
he  was  associated.  Besides  his  work  in  establishing  the  city  of  Cairo, 
Illinois,  and  in  securing  the  great  land  grant  for  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  he  was  associated  with  Cyrus  W.  Field  in  laying  the  first 
Atlantic  cable.  He  died  in  NeAv  York  City,  January  22,  1858.  His 
wife  was  Elizabeth  Thurston  Ingraham;  and  their  only  child,  now 
Baroness  Caroline  Holbrook  Von  Roques,  married  William  Chandler, 
of  the  banking  house  of  St.  Johns,  Powers  &  Company,  of  Mobile, 
Alabama.  To  them  were  born  Holbrook  St.  John  Chandler,  who 
died  in  Paris  unmarried,  and  Florence  Elizabeth  Chandler,  who  mar- 
ried James  Maybrick  in  St.  James,  Picadilly,  London,  and  whose 
children  are  James  C.  Maybrick  and  Gladys  Maybrick." 

Miles  A.  Gilbert. — Miles  A.  Gilbert  was  born  in  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, January  i,  18 10.  After  he  had  finished  his  education  in 
1829,  he  went  into  the  wholesale  store  of  Peas  &  Company  in  Middle- 
town,  Connecticut,  where  he  remained  two  years.     In  the  autumn  of 


194  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

1 83 1,  having  an  advantageous  offer  made  him,  he  went  to  New  Orleans 
as  head  salesman  in  a  large  wholesale  dry  goods  establishment  and 
remained  there  until  May,  1832,  when  the  weather  becoming  very  hot 
and  fearing  yellow  fever,  he  purchased  a  general  assortment  of  goods 
suitable  for  the  country  trade  and  went  to  Kaskaskia,  where  he  arrived 
June  8th,  of  that  year,  and  where  he  engaged  in  merchandising  for 
eleven  )^ears,  having  two  stores  in  the  country  and  one  in  town.  He 
went  east  once  a  year  to  purchase  dry  goods  and  to  New  Orleans  to 
purchase  groceries.  On  the  17th  day  of  November,  1836,  he  married 
Ann  Eliza  Baker,  eldest  daughter  of  the  Hon.  David  J.  Baker,  senior. 
In  the  spring  of  1843  he  was  appointed  sole  agent  of  the  Cairo  City  and 
Canal  Company  and  moved  to  Cairo  in  April  of  that  year.  During 
that  year  he  had  the  cross  levee  built,  which  kept  out  the  great  flood 
of  1844.  After  remaining  here  for  three  years,  he  asked  the  Trustees 
to  be  relieved  and  some  one  else  appointed  in  his  place.  This  was 
promised  but  not  fulfilled  for  several  years.  In  the  spring  of  1847, 
having  spent  most  of  the  previous  fall  and  winter  at  Alton  with  his 
family,  he  moved  to  St.  Mary's  Landing  on  the  Mississippi,  where  he 
owned  about  three  thousand  acres  of  land ;  and  in  the  latter  part  of 
1848,  he  had  a  portion  of  the  same  surveyed  and  laid  out  in  town  lots, 
and  called  the  place  "Ste.  Mary,  Mo."  He  continued  to  act  as  agent 
for  the  company,  going  to  Cairo  two  or  three  times  every  month,  until 
finally  Samuel  Staats  Taylor,  in  April,  1851,  was  appointed  to  suc- 
ceed him  as  agent. 

He  was  an  active  union  man  and  did  much  to  keep  the  state  of 
Missouri  in  the  union.  In  1866  he  was  elected  county  and  probate 
judge  of  St.  Genevieve  County  and  was  twice  elected  thereafter  and 
held  that  ofl^ce  for  the  period  of  twelve  years.  He  died  at  his  home, 
Oakwood,  Ste.  Mary,  January  21,  1901.  In  one  of  the  obituary 
notices  in  the  "Ste.  Genevieve  Herald"  of  January  26th,  a  few  days  after 
his  death,  it  is  said  that  Judge  Gilbert  was  a  man  of  clear  judgment 
and  of  singular  justness  and  fairness  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  and  was 
loved  by  his  many  friends  and  respected  by  all  who  knew  him. 

To  show  the  relationship  between  the  Gilberts,  the  Bakers  and  the 
Candees,  it  may  be  stated  that  Judge  Gilbert's  sister,  Eunetia,  married 
Stephen  S.  Candee.  They  were  the  parents  of  Mrs.  Anna  E.  Safford 
and  of  Mr.  Henry  H.  Candee,  now  deceased.  We  know  of  no  families 
now  in  Cairo  who  have  been  so  long  and  so  prominently  connected 
with  our  city  and  its  varied  interest  as  these  I  have  just  mentioned. 
I  need  not  say  they  have  ever  been  held  in  very  high  esteem.  "I  have 
a  number  of  times  herein  referred  to  Cairo  as  being  in  its  origin  largely 
a  Kaskaskia  town.     Here  is  another  illustration  of  the  fact. 

In  the  "History  of  Alexander,  Union  and  Pulaski  Counties,"  often 
referred  to  herein,  is  a  somewhat  lengthy  biographical  sketch  of  Judge 
Gilbert;  and  we  take  from  the  same  an  account  of  some  of  the  events 
which  took  place  in  1843,  when  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  affairs 
of  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  which  had  then  been  forced  to 
suspend  all  its  work  and  operations  of  every  kind.     It  gives  us  a  clear 


ORGANIZERS  OF  THE  CITY  195 

view  of  the  very  unfortunate  condition  of  things  which  followed  the 
failure  of  that  company.  The  account  is  dated  May  11,  1883,  and  is 
as  follows: 

"The  company  having  failed  in  the  spring  of  1843,  I  was  selected 
as  its  agent  to  take  charge  of  all  of  its  property  at  Cairo.  A  large 
number  of  men  were  thrown  out  of  employment  and  were  in  a  wild, 
ungovernable  state  of  confusion,  clamoring  for  their  pay.  Many  of 
them  wanted  me  to  sell  the  splendid  machinery  in  the  machine  and 
carpenter  shops,  a  building  one  hundred  and  fifty  by  two  hundred  feet, 
which  was  full  of  the  most  expensive  machinery,  most  of  which  was 
attached  to  the  building.  I  had  no  authority  to  remove  the  machinery 
and  so  told  them,  and  thereupon  they  made  all  kinds  of  threats  that 
they  would  break  into  the  buildings  and  take  out  what  they  wanted. 
The  leaders  went  off  to  gather  up  their  mob  forces  and  I  at  once 
secured  four  or  five  good  laboring  men  on  whom  I  could  rely  and 
barricaded  the  doors  and  windows  and  was  ready  for  them  when  they 
returned.  I  had  shot  guns  and  pistols,  all  I  wanted.  They  first  tried 
the  main  front  door,  then  the  windows,  but  not  successfully.  Then 
they  went  for  ladders,  when  I  went  to  a  window  upstairs  and  told 
them  I  was  put  there  to  protect  the  property  and  protect  it  I  would ;  and 
that  if  they  got  one  piece  of  it  it  would  be  over  my  dead  body;  but 
that  if  they  would  wait  until  matters  could  be  arranged  in  New  York, 
where  the  president  of  the  company  was  raising  money  to  pay  off  all 
the  laboring  men,  their  interests  would  be  fully  protected,  I  further 
told  them  they  had  no  lawful  right,  or  right  of  any  kind,  to  break  in 
and  take  any  of  the  property,  and  that  if  they  injured  me,  or  should 
kill  me  in  my  effort  to  protect  the  property,  it  would  be  murder.  I 
plead  with  them  to  refrain  from  violence,  the  evil  consequence  of  which 
would  fall  upon  themselves,  and  that  if  they  would  go  away  and  be 
peaceful  and  quiet  they  would  receive  their  pay  in  due  time.  They 
went  off  about  a  hundred  yards  and  held  a  consultation,  and  came  back 
tO'  the  charge  more  furious  than  before.  The  building  back  of  the  levee 
was  about  ten  feet  above  the  ground,  and  in  its  center  was  a  very  large 
trap  door  for  taking  in  machinerj^  and  lumber  and  putting  out  the  same. 
The  mob  succeeded  in  breaking  this  trap  door  open,  and  then  attempted 
to  boost  their  men  up  into  the  building.  I  stood  over  the  trap  door 
with  a  pistol  in  one  hand  and  a  good  effective  club  in  the  other,  and 
called  some  of  them  by  name  and  stated  that  I  did  not  want  to  hurt 
them  but  that  I  would  kill  the  first  man  that  put  his  head  above  the 
floor.  Several  of  them  put  their  hands  up  over  the  floor  and  I  gave 
them  each  a  good  blow  with  my  club.  Finally,  after  every  imaginable 
way  had  been  tried,  they  had  one  man  who  was  somewhat  intoxicated 
agree  to  get  in.  He  tried  it,  I  warned  him,  and  when  his  hands  came 
above  the  floor  I  hit  them  a  good  rap  but  he  did  not  mind  it.  They 
kept  pushing  him  up  and  I  gave  him  another  severe  blow.  They  still 
kept  on  forcing  him  up  into  the  room,  when,  I  renewing  my  attack  upon 
him  with  greater  force  and  strength  than  ever,  he  called  out  to  them 
to  let  him  down  and  out  and  they  did  so.     They  could  find  no  other 


196 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

to  take  his  place,  and  I  had  the  men  with  me  block  up  the  trap  door 
and  further  barricade  the  windows.  They  came  to  the  charge  ofE  and 
on  that  whole  day.  They  smashed  up  the  doors  and  windows  but  did 
not  succeed  in  obtaining  entrance,  and  finally  after  dark  went  away. 
I  kept  watch  with  my  men  all  the  night,  and  kept  guard  for  many  days 
until  the  better  men  of  the  mob,  finding  that  they  were  likely  to  get 
into  great  trouble,  influenced  the  others  to  desist  from  further  attempts." 
We  have  elsewhere  referred  to  this  incident  and  experience  of  the 
Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  but  here  we  have  the  account  from  first 
hand  and  from  one  of  the  company's  leading  representatives. 

Samuel  Staats  Taylor  came  to  Cairo  as  the  agent  of  the  Trustees 
of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  April  15,  185 1.  He  remained  here  until 
his  death  at  his  home  in  Cairo,  May  14,  1896.  He  was  here,  there- 
fore, forty-five  years.  On  his  arrival  he  took  immediate  charge  and 
supervision  of  all  the  trust  property  and  continued  in  its  management 
under  the  directions  of  the  Trustees  until  near  the  time  of  his  death. 
There  were  a  few  changes  in  the  personnel  of  the  Trustees ;  and  in  the 
year  1876  the  trust  property  was  sold  in  proceedings  in  the  United 
States  court  at  Springfield  to  foreclose  the  Hiram  Ketchum  mortgages 
given  in  1863  and  in  1867,  and  a  new  trust  formed  under  the  name 
and  style  of  the  Cairo  Trust  Property,  and  he  and  Edwin  Parsons 
became  the  Trustees  of  the  new  trust. 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  give  an  account,  in  any  kind  of  detail,  of 
Col.  Taylor's  long  and  hard  work  during  the  forty-five  years  of  his  stay 
here.  I  have  called  it  hard  work.  It  was  such  work,  such  care,  such 
management,  that  had  he  known  what  the  work  would  be,  its  long 
continuance  and  its  disappointing  results,  he  would  not  have  consented 
to  undertake  it.  But  he  and  his  Trustees  and  the  shareholders,  one 
and  all,  seemed  to  have  had  strong  hopes  that  the  third  attempt  to 
establish  a  city  here  would  certainly  prove  successful.  On  no  other 
theory  can  we  account  for  their  purchase  of  the  Holbrook  interests, 
and  their  subsequent  endeavor  to  bring  order  out  of  disorder  and  con- 
fusion, and  infuse  into  the  public  mind  the  trust  and  belief  so  remark- 
ably disappointed  twice  before. 

Their  undertaking  was  more  than  the  building  of  a  city.  The 
site  it  was  to  occupy  was  to  be  protected  against  the  abrading  currents 
of  the  great  rivers  and  from  their  overflowing  waters. 

Their  very  first  important  contracts  related  directly  to  the  con- 
struction of  levees  to  keep  out  the  high  waters  and  to  securing  the 
banks  upon  which  the  levees  stood.  It  does  not  now  seem  that  they 
ever  contemplated  gradually  filling  the  town  to  high-water  mark 
instead  of  inclosing  a  large  district  of  country  with  levees  and  pro- 
tecting the  same  from  the  cutting  of  the  rivers.  They  expected  the 
town  would  grow  rapidly  and  that  all  their  lands  would  be  needed  to 
supply  the  demand  for  town  lots.  Hence  they,  from  the  very  first, 
economized  space,  and  made  their  lots  25  by  lOO  feet  only,  and  their 
streets  50  and  60  feet  in  width,  with  a  few  exceptions,  and  dispensed 
with  alleys  altogether. 


S2^CX. 


ORGANIZERS  OF  THE  CITY  197 

The  Trustees  and  the  stockholders  must  have  looked  upon  Col. 
Taylor  as  the  man  for  the  place  and  the  undertaking ;  and  he  must  have 
known  that  his  selection  indicated  what  they  expected  of  him.  He 
came  in  the  faith  and  belief  that  their  and  his  work  was  reasonably 
practicable  and  promising  of  success,  whatever  else  it  had  been  in  18 18 
and  in  1836.  They  and  he  well  knew  of  the  former  failures  and  the 
causes  thereof.  These  must  have  afforded  no  inconsiderable  light  in 
deciding  in  favor  of  the  third  attempt  or  venture.  Their  eyes  were 
fully  open  to  the  geography  and  topography  of  the  situation.  One 
thing  only  was  required,  and  that  was  money.  Men  to  plan  and  man- 
age the  enterprise  and  use  wisely  the  funds  provided  were  within  easy 
reach,  comparatively.  They  could  not  have  been  blinded  by  the  shining 
of  the  outlook.  The  experiences  of  their  predecessors  were  sufficient 
to  temper  any  exuberance  of  spirit  and  to  indicate  what  errors  and 
mistakes  were  to  be  avoided. 

Col.  Taylor  came  here  as  the  representative  of  a  new  company. 
It  was  not  a  corporation  but  a  land  trust;  but  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses it  was  a  corporation,  a  foreign  corporation.  It  owned  or  con- 
trolled almost  every  acre  of  land  from  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers  to 
an  east  and  west  line  north  of  Cache  River.  These  lands  amounted  to 
9732  acres. 

Eastern  men,  under  the  lead  of  Senator  Douglas,  had  procured 
their  charter  of  February  10,  1851,  for  their  Illinois  Central  Railroad. 
This  was  but  two  months  before  the  arrival  of  Col.  Taylor  at  Cairo. 
The  road  was  this  time  certainly  to  be  built,  and  as  in  former  cases,  it 
was  to  be  built  to  a  point  at  the  city  of  Cairo.  This  requirement  of 
the  charter,  therefore,  at  once  brought  the  railroad  company  and  the 
Trustees  together  to  negotiate  as  to  the  terms  upon  which  the  company 
might  enter  Cairo  and  establish  its  southern  terminal  facilities.  Col. 
Taylor  had  been  here  less  than  three  months  when  the  contract  of 
June  II,  1 85 1,  was  entered  into  by  the  railroad  company  and  the 
Trustees.  A  supplemental  contract  was  made  by  the  same  parties 
May  31,  1855,  to  make  clearer  some  of  the  provisions  of  the  first  con- 
tract, and  to  provide  for  other  features  of  the  situation  not  before  con- 
sidered. 

We  recite  these  matters  and  things  here  to  show  the  importance  of 
the  situation  with  which  Col.  Taylor  was  expected  to  deal.  He  was 
on  the  ground  and  soon  came  to  know  more  than  any  one  else  about 
the  needs  of  the  Trustees  and  of  the  land  enterprise  in  which  they  had 
embarked.  The  Trustees  needed  their  city  site  protected  from  floods ; 
so  also  did  the  railroad  company;  but  the  latter  needed  lands  and 
rights-of-way  and  could  not  build  upon  the  natural  surface  but  upon 
earth  embankments  only;  and  hence  it  was  naturally  provided  that 
the  embankment  should  extend  around  the  city  and  be  and  become  pro- 
tective levees  upon  which  the  railroad  company's  tracks  should  be 
placed  and  its  trains  run.  Wide  embankments  were  not  needed  for 
railroad  purposes  but  were  for  protection  against  the  rivers;  and  hence 
the  embankments  were  to  be  eighty  feet  w^de  on  the  top  and  sufficiently 
high  to  keep  out  the  highest  known  waters  in  the  rivers.     These  con- 


198  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

tracts  are  not  recorded,  for  what  reason  I  do  not  know,  but  they  have 
been  printed  in  three  or  four  editions  of  our  city  ordinance  books,  com- 
mencing with  that  of  1872. 

Col.  Taylor,  time  and  time  again,  complained  of  the  failure  of  the 
railroad  company  to  observe  the  requirements  of  these  contracts,  and  he 
carefully  kept  an  account  of  its  shortcomings  and  made  a  record  of  the 
moneys  he  had  to  spend  to  make  good  what  it  should  have  done.  In  the 
course  of  time,  the  Trustees  sued  the  company  in  the  United  States  Court 
at  Springfield  to  recover  what  they  claimed  to  be  due  from  the  company. 
Whether  or  not  it  was  so  intended,  the  suit,  it  seems,  became  much  like 
a  suit  to  obtain  a  proper  construction  of  a  contract.  One  important 
branch  of  the  controversy  related  to  the  duty  to  protect  the  site  of  the 
city  or  the  river  banks,  where  the  levees  were,  or  were  to  be,  from 
abrasion  and  destruction.  The  railroad  company  said  its  dut)^  was  to 
build  the  levees,  but  that  under  the  contracts  the  Trustees  were  to 
maintain  the  site  or  foundations  upon  which  the  levees  were,  or  were  to 
be  built.  We  cannot  pursue  this  matter  further  than  to  say  that  July  18, 
1872,  the  long  pending  suit  was  compromised  by  a  release  of  the  rail- 
road company  from  the  two  contracts  and  its  conveyance  back  to  the 
Trustees  of  its  1 00- foot  strip  of  ground  around  the  city  and  the  pay- 
ment to  the  Trustees  of  $80,000.00.  (See  book  No.  7,  page  287,  in  the 
recorder's  office.)  With  this  exception  and  possibly  one  or  two  others, 
the  Trustees  and  the  railroad  company  have  been  in  accord, — too  much 
so,  some  have  thought,  for  the  good  of  the  city.  Col.  Taylor's  super- 
vision here  extended  for  many  years  to  levee  building  and  repairing, 
to  river  bank  protection,  to  clearing  off  the  dense  woods  which  every- 
where covered  their  extended  acreage,  to  laying  out,  surveying  and 
platting  the  town  itself,  a  most  difficult  undertaking, — to  fixing  the 
prices  of  lots  and  lands  and  making  sales  thereof,  to  wharf  construction 
and  the  collection  of  wharfage,  to  preparing  as  best  he  could,  with  the 
means  at  his  command,  for  river  floods,  and  to  looking  after  the  health 
of  the  city  and  largely  to  the  general  welfare  and  government  of  the 
people.  The  town  or  city  was  in  large  measure  the  town  and  city  of 
the  Trustees,  and  his  duty  extended  almost  to  everything  that  in  any 
way  related  to  them  or  to  the  people  of  the  community.  To  attend 
to  and  properly  supervise  all  these  divers  matters  and  things  and  report 
them  annually  and  fully  to  the  Trustees  and  stockholders  a  thousand 
miles  away,  was,  as  we  have  already  said,  hard  work  and  labor.  Most 
men  would  have  fled  from  such  exacting  duties,  but  Col.  Taylor  per- 
formed them  very  faithfully  for  forty-  years. 

But  Col.  Taylor's  faithful  service  extended,  in  one  or  two  respects, 
beyond  reasonable  bounds.  The  alternative  could  have  been  loss  of 
position  only,  which  could  never  have  been  a  very  great  loss  to  him. 
The  Trustees  seldom,  if  ever,  required  him  to  do  anything  which  he 
personally  thought  he  ought  not  to  do.     Let  us  explain : 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  the  Trustees  would  have  litigation  of 
greater  or  less  importance.  They  were  non-residents  and  citizens  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia;  and  when  they  were  sued  they  uniformly 


ORGANIZERS  OF  THE  CITY  199 

removed  the  case  to  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  at  Springfield. 
Col.  Taylor  was  here  and  had  charge  generally  of  the  situation,  in- 
cluding the  litigation,  and  when  it  became  necessary  to  remove  a  case 
from  a  state  to  a  Federal  court,  he  generally  made  the  requisite 
affidavits  and  executed  the  other  necessary  papers.  Until  1888,  if  the 
suit  involved  as  much  as  $500.00,  a  removal  could  be  had.  In  that 
year  the  amount  was  increased  to  $2000.00.  This  uniform  custom  of 
the  Trustees  gained  them  no  favor  with  the  people  of  Cairo.  But 
on  the  contrary,  it  removed  the  Trustees  farther  from  the  people  of 
the  town  and  separated  the  latter  farther  from  Col.  Taylor,  although 
a  resident  and  citizen  with  them.  From  1 851  to  1864,  Col.  Taylor 
had  been  a  resident  of  Cairo  and  a  citizen  of  the  state  and  had  been 
town  Trustee  for  the  two  years'  term  of  the  town's  existence  and  mayor 
of  Cairo  six  several  times;  but  in  the  3^ear  1864  he  changed  his  citizenship 
from  Illinois  to  Missouri  and  took  up  his  residence  in  St.  Louis. 
Scarcely  any  one  knew  this.  He  and  his  family  remained  here  at 
his  residence  on  Washington  Avenue  and  Sixth  Street  and  afterwards  on 
Washington  Avenue  and  Twentj^-Eighth  Street.  He  had  no  home 
or  residence  in  St.  Louis,  but  claimed  to  have  a  room  or  rooms  at  the 
Southern  Hotel.  This  change  in  citizenship  was  due,  no  doubt,  to  a 
desire  to  render  better  service  to  the  trust  in  respect  to  litigation. 
Under  the  city  acts  of  incorporation  of  1857  3"d  1867,  and  the  amend- 
ment of  1868,  none  of  the  higher  officers  of  the  city  were  required  to 
be  citizens  or  residents  of  Illinois.  Col.  Taylor  no  doubt  supervised 
this  feature  of  the  enactments.  No  change  came  until  the  city  became 
incorporated  under  the  general  act  of  April  10,  1872,  for  the  incor- 
poration of  cities  and  villages,  which  was  in  January,  1873. 

We  refer  to  this  here  for  the  purpose  of  accounting  in  some  degree 
for  the  increasing  want  of  sympathy  and  co-operation  between  the 
people  of  the  town  and  the  Trustees  and  their  representative.  Some- 
thing of  this  kind  had  no  doubt  come  over  from  the  Holbrook  administra- 
tion. It  seems  to  have  had  a  steady  growth  until  there  arose  in  the 
city  two  parties,  the  one  the  Taylor  party  and  the  other  the  anti- 
Taylor  party.  It  made  its  appearance,  in  a  small  way,  almost  as  far 
back  as  1851,  the  year  Col.  Taylor  came  here.  It  arose  chiefly  from 
the  first  efforts  of  the  Trustees  to  control  the  wharf  and  collect  wharf- 
age from  all  water  craft  of  every  description.  There  were  all  kinds 
of  boats  at  the  landing,  flat  boats,  keel  boats,  trading  boats  and  steam- 
boats, and  many  of  the  Cairo  people  were  largely  interested  in  the 
business  done  on  the  rivers. 

This  state  of  feeling  between  the  people  and  the  Trustees  is  further 
seen  in  the  charge  Col.  Taylor  made  against  the  four  other  town  Trustees 
in  1856,  which  was  that  it  was  their  custom  to  hold  meetings  and 
transact  town  business  without  letting  him  know  anj^thing  about  the 
meetings.  And  so  the  little  breach  widened  more  and  more,  until  in 
the  year  1864  the  people  put  up  David  J.  Baker  for  maj^or  against 
Col.  Tajdor,  who  had  been  elected  mayor  six  several  times,  beginning 


200 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

with  1857.  H.  Watson  Webb  was  elected  mayor  in  1863  without 
opposition.  Judge  Baker's  father  was  David  J.  Baker,  senior,  who 
was  a  very  able  man,  lawyer  and  judge  and  had  long  been  a  man  of 
the  Trustees'  own  right  hand ;  and  it  was  hardly  to  be  supposed  that 
David  J.  Baker,  junior,  also  an  able  man  and  a  lawyer,  would  yield 
to  entreaties  to  make  the  race  for  mayor  against  Col.  Taylor,  who  up 
to  that  time  had  been  very  successful  in  vanquishing  his  opponents. 
Judge  Baker  made  the  race,  however,  which  he  would  not  have  done 
had  he  not  known  of  the  very  strong  feeling  against  the  Trustees  and 
their  Cairo  policies.  It  was  a  heated  contest,  such  as  never  had 
occurred  before  in  Cairo  and  probably  not  since.  In  a  vote  of  734, 
Judge  Baker  received  a  majority  of  26  votes.  Even  at  this  time,  you 
will  find  a  few  men  in  Cairo  who  can  tell  all  about  that  city  election. 
It  was  a  kind  of  landmark,  a  fixed  date  from  and  to  which  many  things 
were  referred  or  calculated.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Col.  Taylor 
changed  his  citizenship  from  Illinois  to  Missouri. 

There  were  no  politics  in  this  situation  of  things  in  the  city.  It 
was  a  Taylor  party  and  an  anti-Taylor  party.  Col.  Taylor  was  on  the 
ground  and  was  regarded  as  representing,  in  the  highest  degree  and 
in  every  sense,  the  Trustees  and  their  management.  There  was  some- 
thing of  a  personal  nature  in  it,  arising  from  the  belief  that  Col.  Taylor 
entered  heartily  into  the  plans  of  the  Trustees  and  had  just  as  little 
sj^mpathy  for  the  people  as  the  Trustees  themselves,  the  one  in  Phila- 
delphia and  the  other  in  New  York. 

Since  that  election  there  has  never  been  another  at  which  there  was 
such  a  drawing  of  the  Taylor  and  the  anti-Taj'lor  line;  but  the  Trustees 
are  still  with  us,  with  a  change  of  name  and  some  changes  in  interest. 
Many  years  ago  the  city  began  to  pass  out  of  their  hands  and  to  enter 
upon  self-control.  It  is  a  better  state  of  things,  and  it  would  no  doubt 
have  been  better  had  it  commenced  earlier. 

It  may  be  thought  that  I  have  devoted  too  much  space  to  these 
matters.  But  I  reply  that  few  towns  or  cities  in  the  country  have 
been  so  peculiarly  situated  as  Cairo.  About  this  I  need  only  refer  to 
the  chapter  on  Cairo  in  "Servitude  to  Land  Companies."  It  may  be 
also  very  properly  remarked  that  the  Trustees,  and  Col.  Taylor  as  their 
immediate  and  most  important  representative,  became  to  the  people  of 
Cairo  public  men  or  officials  whose  acts  and  doings  in  very  many  re- 
spects affected  the  general  public  interests.  The  people  were  here  and 
interested  in  the  city  and  its  growth  and  prosperity,  and  they  believed 
the  Trustees  could  do  more  than  all  others  for  the  city  which  they  had 
started  out  to  build.  Persons  bearing  such  relations  to  public  interests 
cannot  reasonably  expect  the  same  exemption  from  comment  and  criticism 
as  may  one  whose  interests  and  duties  are  wholly  personal  or  individual. 
The  party  spirit,  so  long  existing  in  the  cit}%  was  of  such  nature  and 
extent  that  to  omit  reference  to  it  in  a  history  of  the  city  could  scarcely 
be  justified.  It  was  talked  of  and  written  about  here  at  home  and  in 
other  parts  of  the  country,  and  the  town  was  spoken  of  frequently  as 


ORGANIZERS  OF  THE  CITY  201 

owned  and  controlled  by  a  few  persons,  and  they  living  at  a  distance. 
It  was  a  custom  of  the  people  of  the  place  to  notice  somewhat  care- 
fully whether  the  new  arrivals  in  the  city  for  residence  here  would  ally 
themselves  with  the  one  or  the  other  party.  And  as  still  further  show- 
ing what  the  condition  of  things  was  in  this  respect  it  may  be  stated 
that  an  election  of  no  kind  could  be  held  without  this  spirit  openly 
making  its  appearance.  In  these  more  modern  times  we  often  hear  it 
enjoined  upon  the  business  and  leading  men  in  the  community  to  get 
together;  but  in  Cairo  for  three  or  four  decades  such  an  expression  was 
never  heard.  The  one  party  generally  felt  too  strong  to  talk  about 
such  a  thing,  and  the  other  was  never  in  a  sufficiently  good  humor  to 
mention  the  matter.  It  was  not  a  feud, — no,  not  at  all;  but  it  is  ex- 
pressing the  thing  rather  mildly  to  say  that  it  was  a  constant  state  of 
strained  relations. 

Col.  Taylor  was  never  a  man  of  the  people.  His  birth,  his  training, 
his  tastes,  his  life,  were  away  from  and  in  a  sense  above  them.  They 
looked  upon  him  as  without  sympathy  for  them  and  as  caring  nothing 
for  their  interests.  His  life  here  seemed  in  keeping  with  his  claim  of 
citizenship  elsewhere.  There  were  exhibited  all  those  appearances  of  for- 
eign landlords;  for  such  were  the  actual  relations  of  the  Trustees  to  the 
people.  Col.  Taylor's  manner  and  carriage  all  indicated,  perhaps  too 
much  but  yet  naturally,  that  he  dwelt  apart  and  not  among  the  people, 
who  thought  he  ought  to  be  more  of  a  servant  to  them  and  less  of  a 
lord  over  them.  They  would  have  welcomed  his  advances,  but  none 
seem  ever  to  have  been  made.  He  did  not  seem  to  know  this  because 
he  did  not  feel  it.  It  was  out  of  keeping  with  his  strong  nature,  which 
did  not  appear  to  need  those  associations  and  that  friendly  social  inter- 
course which  most  men  desire  and  seek. 

While  the  policies  of  the  Trustees  may  not  always  have  been  what 
the  interest  of  the  city  and  the  people  at  large  required  or  needed  or 
thought  they  needed,  Col.  Taylor  himself  was  ever  watchful  of  the 
interest  of  the  town  and  its  peculiar  site  and  situation.  Under  his 
administration  of  the  trust,  for  he  seemed  to  administer  it,  no  one 
ever  tinkered  with  the  levees.  To  him  they  were  as  the  very  life  of 
the  city.  He  had  gone  through  all  the  trying  experiences  of  river 
floods,  beginning  with  1858,  and  knew  far  better  than  any  one  else 
what  the  levees  meant  to  the  city ;  and  no  one  could  remove  a  shovel 
of  earth  from  them  or  excavate  an  inch  near  these  citv^  life  securities 
or  dream  of  piercing  through  them  with  any  kind  of  an  opening,  with- 
out the  most  formal  permission,  signed,  sealed  and  delivered  before- 
hand. And  when  any  levee  was  to  be  pierced  or  cut  anywhere  or  for 
any  purpose,  the  engineers  were  examined,  cross-examined  and  minutely 
instructed,  and  supplementing  it  all  we  would  see  him  personally  present 
to  make  sure  all  was  going  on  just  right.  This  is  a  fair  illustration  of 
the  attention  he  gave  to  everything  he  had  in  hand  which  was  of  any 
consequence. 

We  have  often  heard  of  men  who  in  a  marked  degree  attracted  the 


202 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

attention  of  others  when  appearing  in  public.  Col.  Taylor  Avas  such 
a  man.  No  one  could  meet  or  see  him  without  at  once  feeling  that  he 
was  in  the  presence  of  a  strong,  not  to  say  great,  character.  His  stature, 
his  mould,  his  brow,  his  eye,  his  steady  look  and  expression,  in  a  word, 
his  commanding  presence,  told,  plainer  than  words  could  tell,  that  here 
nature  had  been  lavish  of  her  splendid  gifts.  And  is  it  strange  that 
here  in  this  small  city  one  should  be  found  so  much  above  most  men? 
Why  not?  Greatness  such  as  that  to  which  I  have  referred  is  not 
geographical. 

Is  it  true  that  almost  all  men  of  great  character  and  spirit  at  last 
find  life  a  disappointment?  Col.  Taylor  did.  The  hope  that  brought 
him  here  and  kept  him  here  so  long  and  until  it  was  too  late  to  look 
or  go  elsewhere,  failed  him  at  last.  He  had  spent  many  years  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States  Bank  at  Philadelphia  in  times  as  stirring 
as  any  that  have  ever  occurred  in  the  historj.'  of  the  country,  some  years 
in  New  York,  some  years  also  in  Chicago,  and  his  coming  here  to  take 
charge  of  almost  a  barren  situation  or  site  upon  which  to  build  a  city 
must  have  arisen  from  a  belief  that  there  were  great  things  before  him. 
Some  persons  may  disagree  with  me,  but  Col.  Taylor  was  a  great  man 
and  could  never,  in  his  maturer  or  later  years,  have  felt  that  he  had 
come  into  his  own  or  had  in  a  large  measure  made  out  of  his  life  what 
he  had  hoped.  He  lived  in  some  respects  a  far-off  life,  if  we  may  be 
allowed  such  an  expression.  He  may  have  been  happier  than  he  seemed ; 
but  it  may  well  be  doubted  that,  could  the  offer  have  been  made,  he 
would  have  chosen  to  live  over  again  the  same  life.  That,  too,  is 
not  strange;  for  the  number  is  not  large  that  would  so  choose. 

The  following  is  from  the  biographical  notices  of  officers  and  gradu- 
ates of  Rutgers  College,  deceased  during  the  year  ending  June,  1896: 

"Samuel  Staats  Taylor  was  born  in  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey, 
November  18,  181 1,  and  died  at  his  home  in  Cairo,  Illinois,  on  May 
14,  1896.  His  father's  name  was  Augustus  FitzRandolph  Taylor,  an 
eminent  physician  of  that  place.  His  grandfather,  John  Taylor,  was 
Professor  of  Languages  in  Queen's  College  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  and  recruited  a  company  from  among  the  students, 
which  he  led  to  the  field.  The  original  ancestor  of  the  family  came 
to  America  from  England  with  Sir  George  Cartwright  in  1640,  and 
settled  the  province  of  New  Jersey.  His  mother's  name  was  Cath- 
arine Schuyler  Neilson,  daughter  of  Colonel  John  Neilson,  a  native 
of  New  Brunswick. 

"He  graduated  in  1829  with  the  second  honor  of  his  class.  From  an 
early  period  of  his  life  he  was  designed  by  his  parents  for  the  legal 
profession,  his  own  inclination  tending  in  the  same  direction.  He 
read  law  in  the  city  of  New  York  with  an  older  brother,  John  N. 
Taylor,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  as  an  attorney  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  and  three  years  later  he  was  admitted  to  the  higher  degree 
of  counselor,  and  was  considered  one  of  the  most  promising  and  brilliant 


^^-6^'^ 


ORGANIZERS  OF  THE  CITY 203 

lawyers  of  the  period.  His  career  at  the  bar,  however,  was  short. 
In  1836  he  accepted  a  confidential  position  as  Secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Directors  of  the  United  States  Bank  of  Philadelphia,  a  position  of 
great  responsibility,  which  he  retained  until  the  memorable  failure  of 
that  corporation  in  1841.  He  was  then  appointed  by  the  trustees  to 
assist  in  winding  up  the  complicated  affairs  of  the  company.  In  this 
capacity'  he  operated  until  1851,  having  supreme  control  of  the  interests 
of  his  employers  in  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin, 
Missouri  and  Iowa,  and  transacting  all  the  business  incident  to  the 
most  gigantic  enterprise  of  the  kind  in  the  nation  and  requiring 
executive  talent  and  ability  of  the  very  highest  order.  In  April,  1851, 
he  removed  to  Cairo,  where  he  assumed  charge  of  the  Cairo  city  prop- 
erty, and  in  1861  was  made  a  Trustee  of  the  property  by  the  stock- 
holders, which  relation  he  sustained  till  his  death.  He  was  elected  the 
first  mayor  under  the  charter  of  1857,  a"^  '^^'ss  re-elected  to  this  posi- 
tion for  five  consecutive  terms.  From  1865  till  1875  he  was  president 
of  the  Cairo  and  St.  Louis  Railroad  Company,  was  a  director  of  the 
City  National  Bank  since  1865,  and,  in  fact,  was  identified  with  every 
interest  of  the  city  after  his  arrival  there." 

William  Parker  Halliday. — Capt.  Halliday  was  so  long  and  so 
prominent  a  citizen  of  Cairo  that  I  may  very  properly  follow  the 
sketches  of  Holbrook,  Gilbert  and  Taylor  with  a  short  sketch  of  his 
life.  One  reason  for  this  is  that  I  have  not  found  in  any  book  or 
pamphlet  any  notice  of  him.  I  infer  this  want  of  reference  to  him 
was  due  to  his  own  choice,  insisted  upon,  no  doubt,  when  solicited  for 
information  about  himself.  There  are  many  men  and  not  a  few 
women,  long  well  known  in  Cairo  about  whom  I  should  like  to  leave 
here  some  fitting  words  of  remembrance;  but  to  select  them  from 
others,  with  or  without  their  permission,  and  say  just  what  the  public 
would  expect  or  desire  me  to  say,  would  be  so  difHcult  an  undertaking 
that  I  found  I  could  not  enter  upon  it.  The  few  of  whom  I  have 
spoken  have  been  largely  public  characters,  and  concerning  them  I  have 
felt  at  liberty  to  speak  somewhat  freely,  though  I  hope  always  candidly, 
if  not  always  justly. 

Capt.  Halliday  was  born  in  Meigs  County,  Ohio,  July  21,  1827. 
He  received  such  an  education  as  was  then  generally  given  boys  and 
young  men  in  the  community  where  the  family  lived.  It  was  good 
enough,  or  supposed  to  be  good  enough,  for  all  practical  purposes. 
Wherein  it  may  have  been  wanting  his  native  talent  largely  supplied 
the  want.  At  an  early  time  in  life,  he  sought  employment  on  the  Ohio 
River.  He  was  clerk  first  and  afterwards  captain  on  steamboats 
navigating  that  stream.  Possessing  rare  business  talents,  and  the  war 
coming  on,  he  improved  the  opportunities  it  afforded  to  prosecute  suc- 
cessful business  enterprises,  and  as  a  result  he  became  very  prosperous. 
So  uniformly  were  his  business  ventures  successful  that  in  a  compara- 
tively short  time,  his  property  and  means  had  so  accumulated  as  to 
greatly  reinforce  his  naturally  fine  business  abilities.     Natural  talents 


204 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

for  business  and  the  possession  of  means  were  as  leverage  to  each  other, 
and  the  increase  in  wealth  was  something  in  the  nature  of  a  geometrical 
progression. 

To  express  the  above  in  fewer  words,  it  may  be  said,  Capt.  Halliday 
was  first,  last  and  alwa3'S  a  business  man.  His  life  was  devoted  to 
business,  that  is  to  the  acquisition  of  money,  propert}-,  wealth.  Natur- 
ally this  absorbed  almost  all  his  time  and  thoughts.  It  could  not  have 
been  otherwise.  It  was  not  different  with  him  from  others  whose  chief 
object  and  constant  aim  were  the  transaction  of  business.  As  in  other 
cases  and  alwaj'S,  one  becomes  molded  into  a  t>'pe,  and  life  is  lived 
on  and  out  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  same  unvarying  object  or 
purpose.  It  is  so  in  everj^thing  to  which  men  turn  attention.  Suc- 
cess, marked  success,  comes  only  to  those  who  set  but  one  goal  before 
them.  Capt.  Halliday  may  not  have  said  so,  may  not  have  thought  so, 
but  he  had  beyond  doubt  determined  early  in  life  to  acquire  wealth ;  and 
to  this  ever>'thing  else  was  made  to  tend.  No  mechanism  could  have 
worked  with  greater  precision.  He  was  a  strong  man,  a  gifted  man, 
and  everything  in  and  about  him  focused  upon  this  one  thing,  the 
acquisition  of  wealth.  Just  what  he  expected  it  to  bring  him,  no  one 
can  tell.  Perhaps  he  never  thought  much  about  what  it  would  or  could 
afford  him.  He  cared  nothing  for  office,  not  much  for  politics,  not 
ver3'  much  for  religious  matters,  and  not  much  for  societ)^  All  these 
were  subordinate,  some  of  them  ven^  much  so.  How  else  could  it  be? 
Few  men  are  able  to  fill  many  spheres  of  energ\^  In  proportion  as 
there  are  many,  the  success  in  any  one  is  not  often  very  great.  Ordi- 
narily life  must  be  centered  upon  some  one  thing,  in  order  to  achieve 
high  or  great  results.  To  be  a  statesman,  one  must  study  politics; 
to  be  a  scientist,  the  most  painstaking  work  for  years  must  be  entered 
upon  and  unremittingly  pursued  ;  to  be  a  professional  man  of  any  kind, 
with  hopes  for  success  therein,  almost  everything  else,  outside  of  the 
chosen  profession,  must  be  laid  aside.  Captain  Halliday  had  no  doubt 
obser\-ed  this  and  applied  it  strictly  in  the  prosecution  of  his  chosen 
work. 

In  these  business  times,  Capt.  Halliday  was  one  of  a  thousand. 
His  sphere  of  activity  was  by  no  means  broad.  The  small  city  of  his 
residence  and  life  was  not  fruitful  of  opportunities;  but  he  had  laid 
hold  of  so  many  branches  of  business,  that  combining  the  same  would 
have  put  him  alongside  of  many  of  the  great  business  men  in  the  cities. 

His  whole  life  was  one  of  practical  education.  He  saw  very  early 
the  importance  of  attention  to  details.  He  knew  better  than  any  one 
in  his  emploj^ment  that  if  the  apparently  small  things  are  neglected 
there  will  be  no  large  results.  He  carried  on  no  business  about  which 
he  did  not  soon  know  more  than  any  one  else  in  his  service.  To  him 
almost  all  the  details  of  salt  making,  coal  mining  and  transportation, 
cotton  growing,  banking,  and  many  other  branches  of  business  were  as 
familiar  as  are  the  ordinary'  details  of  the  simplest  business  enterprises. 

He  had  a  few  maxims  about  which  he  said  little,  but  they  were 
all   of   a  practical    and    business-like   nature.     Having   come   to   Cairo 


ORGANIZERS  OF  THE  CITY  205 

before  the  war,  and  the  war  having  opened,  opportunities  multiplied. 
He  improved  them,  and  his  success  and  prosperity  were  beyond  his 
expectations.  As  he  grew  in  wealth,  he  grew  even  faster  in  capabilities 
for  management,  and  hence  his  spheres  and  branches  of  business  multi- 
plied and  widened.  There  was  little  competition  in  his  business  enter- 
prises anywhere.  This  was  greatly  to  his  advantage.  The  little  op- 
position he  met  with  in  business  did  not  have  the  best  effect  upon  him ; 
nor  would  it  have  had  on  any  one.  He  was  restive  when  unexpected 
obstacles  appeared  in  his  way.  This  was  natural.  Strong  men  often 
fire  up  when  opposition  appears.  They  regard  it  as  useless  and  in- 
tended only  to  annoy;  whereas,  they  should  treat  it  as  the  exhibition  of 
the  same  spirit  and  prowess  they  themselves  possess  and  exercise  freely. 
Capt.  Halliday  acquired  large  wealth,  considering  the  size  of  his  town 
and  the  amount  of  the  business  done  here.  His  business,  however, 
represented  that  of  many  places.  Had  he  lived  in  some  one  of  our 
great  cities  and  taken  hold  of  business  as  he  did  here,  he  would  prob- 
ably have  acquired  tens  of  millions,  instead  of  a  few  here  at  home. 
This  may  be  said  to  be  very  doubtful ;  but  what  he  actually  did  here 
is  a  fair  indication  of  what  he  could  and  would  have  done  where  busi- 
ness transactions  of  great  magnitude  were  carried  on. 

Capt.  Halliday  had  more  than  a  fair  degree  of  caution.  It  was  not 
generally  known  that  he  ever  ventured  much,  except  in  some  of  his 
earlier  operations.  If  he  ever  made  much  or  lost  considerable  in  stock 
or  other  like  transactions  in  the  large  cities,  few  persons  were  told  of 
it.  He  always  kept  his  own  counsels ;  and  if  he  seemed  at  times  more 
ready  to  let  matters  get  abroad,  it  was  the  better  to  conceal  the  actual 
matter  in  hand.  Ambitious  as  he  was  to  gain  wealth  and  the  promi- 
nence it  is  generally  supposed  to  give,  he  had  seen  so  many  overtaken  by 
calamity,  that  he  seems  to  have  set  very  definite  boundaries  to  his 
ventures. 

I  might  extend  this  description  of  this  remarkable  man ;  but  how- 
ever long  it  might  be  made,  it  would  all  be  in  further  illustration  only 
of  those  features  of  his  character  and  life  I  have  above  endeavored  to 
set  forth. 

I  must  be  permitted  to  say  here  of  Capt.  Halliday  something  of  what 
I  have  elsewhere  said  of  Thomas  Wilson.  Wilson  had  fought  Taylor 
and  Halliday  for  many  years;  but  after  a  long  lapse  of  time,  the  fires 
of  local  election  strife  began  to  burn  low,  and  William  reached  out 
his  strong  right  hand  and  took  hold  of  Tom's  and  the  hatchet  was 
buried.  Each  admired  the  other  for  the  grit  that  was  in  him.  Nature 
had  made  them  giants, — local  giants  it  may  be,  but  nevertheless  giants. 
They  would  have  been  that  any\vhere,  I  suppose.  And  so  I  say  of 
Halliday  as  I  have  said  of  Wilson,  that  had  he  obtained  or  taken 
the  education  and  training  he  might  have  had  or  taken  in  early  life, 
the  great  business  world  of  this  great  country  would  everywhere  have 
stopped  for  a  while  to  note  the  fact  of  his  death.  But  it  is  said,  had 
these  two  men  been  trained  in  college  life  or  something  equivalent  thereto, 


2o6  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

if  there  is  any  equivalent,  they  might  never  have  attained  to  what  they 
did  here.  This  is  possible,  probably  probable.  As  heretofore  stated, 
this  view  puts  a  discount  on  education  of  all  kinds  and  everywhere. 
Had  Lincoln,  Douglas  and  Logan  been  college  men,  so  called,  it  is 
altogether  probable  they  never  would  have  become  the  great  public 
men  they  were.  A  very  little  thing  often  turns  the  current  of  one's 
life;  but  how  superficial,  how  illogical,  how  flimsy  is  such  a  line  of 
argument  as  this  against  the  claims  of  higher  education.  Once,  when 
Capt.  Halliday  returned  from  Chicago  where  he  had  attended  a  meet- 
ing of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company, 
I  had  a  talk  with  him  in  his  office  in  the  City  National  Bank.  I 
noted  his  expression  of  countenance  as  he  spoke  of  Stuyvesant  Fish,  the 
president  of  the  company,  and  of  his  acts  and  management  in  their 
meeting.  Especially  did  he  speak  of  the  fact  that  Fish  was  a  Yale 
man  ;  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  he  thought  Fish's  college  training  had  been 
of  immense  advantage  to  him.  And  may  he  not  himself  have  felt 
that  had  he  received  the  training  Fish  had,  he  would  have  felt  him- 
self possessed  of  a  strength  and  confidence  that  were  now  beyond  his 
reach. 

A  few  years  before  Mr.  Lincoln  came  very  prominently  before  the 
country,  he  went  to  Cincinnati  to  assist  in  the  trial  of  certain  insurance 
cases,  on  his  side  of  which  Edwin  M.  Stanton  was  the  leading  counsel. 
Stanton's  management  and  exhibition  of  learning  and  knowledge  were 
a  kind  of  revelation  to  the  Springfield  lawyer,  who,  when  he  returned 
home,  spoke  of  his  impressions  of  the  great  Pennsylvanian,  and  of  the 
amazing  advantage  college  life  and  training  gave  men,  as  it  seemed  to 
him.     Lincoln  saw  in  Stanton  what  Halliday  saw  in  Fish. 


But  in  emphasizing  Capt.  HalHday's  talents  and  taste  for  business, 
I  must  not  be  understood  as  disallowing  to  him  other  excellent  and 
great  qualities,  which  often  co-exist  with  close  attachment  to  some  one 
great  moving  purpose  of  life.  He  was,  I  think,  on  the  right  side  in 
all  the  important  moral  and  charitable  questions  and  enterprises  to 
which  his  attention  was  drawn.  He  did  much  for  the  poor  of  the 
community,  but  without  ostentation  or  trumpet-blowing  of  any  kind. 
Persons  who  knew  him  better  than  I  did  I  am  sure  will  say  a  great 
deal  more  to  this  effect  than  I  have  said.  No  one  went  to  him  for  any 
worthy  purpose  who  was  turned  away  without  aid.  What  he  did  for 
the  public  library,  will,  in  its  careful  and  wise  management,  live  far 
into  the  distant  future  when  all  of  us  have  gone  and  most  of  us  have 
been  forgotten.  I  have  spoken  of  him  as  a  remarkable  man ;  and  while 
his  great  abilities  were  devoted  so  exclusively  to  the  acquisition  of 
wealth,  they  would,  in  other  conditions  and  times,  have  lifted  him 
high  above  most  men  in  whatever  sphere  of  life  they  had  been  exercised. 
He,  like  and  yet  unlike  Col.  Taylor,  was  a  great  man,  as  little  as  the 
world  may  have  known  the  fact.  Greatness  of  another  kind,  to 
which  he  might  have  easily  attained,  would  have  carried  his  name  far 


ORGANIZERS  OF  THE  CITY 207 

beyond  the  ordinary  boundaries  of  wealth-giving  fame.  He  seemingly 
possessed  all  the  elements  of  a  great  general,  whether  in  war  or  in 
the  great  business  battles  of  the  world.  While  he  knew  his  limitations 
better  than  any  one  else,  yet  he  could  have  been  placed  in  few  positions 
where  he  would  not  have  risen  fully  to  the  exacting  demands  of  the 
hour  and  achieved  victories  of  lasting  renown. 

The  Halliday  Brothers. — There  were  five  of  them,  a  some- 
what exceptional  number:  William  P.  Halliday,  Samuel  B.  Halliday, 
Edwin  W.  Halliday,  Henry  L.  Halliday,  and  Thomas  W.  Halliday. 
Of  the  eldest  and  the  youngest  I  have  elsewhere  spoken  at  some  length ; 
of  the  former,  because  so  prominent  in  the  financial  world,  and  of 
the  latter,  because  so  long  in  official  life.  Of  them  all,  I  may  be 
permitted  to  say  that  while  they  differed  from  each  other,  they  all 
exhibited  features  of  character  and  conduct  that  would  have  given 
them  prominence  anywhere  in  the  business  world.  No  doubt  in  some 
one  or  two  important  respects,  each  one  excelled  the  others.  This 
was  shown  in  those  matters  and  things  to  which  they  gave  their 
chief  attention.  Speaking  of  them  and  their  families,  so  well  rep- 
resented here  with  us  and  elsewhere,  it  can  be  said  that  they  have 
always  stood  for  the  better  things,  not  with  assumption  or  pharisaically, 
but  openly  and  firmly.  They  pushed  their  business  enterprises  with 
diligence,  and  had  there  been  more  of  such  men  it  would  have  been 
better  for  the  city  and  for  them  also,  I  have  no  doubt.  It  will  not 
detract  from  them  nor  from  old  Scotland,  to  say  they  were  and  are 
Scotch  people,  although  native  Americans.  Possibly,  this  may  account 
somewhat  for  the  solidity  of  character  so  uniformly  exhibited  by  them. 
Of  the  five  brothers,  William  and  Samuel  came  here  before  the  war; 
and  in  1862,  Henr}^  and  Thomas  came.  Major  Edwin  W.  Halliday 
came  here  after  the  close  of  the  war.  He  is  the  only  brother  of  the 
five  now  living;  and  I  regret  to  say  that  he  seems  to  have  found  it 
best  for  the  health  of  Mrs.  Halliday  to  remove  to  San  Diego,  where 
relatives  of  the  family  have  long  resided.  In  the  "  Memoirs  of  the 
Lx)wer  Ohio  Valley "  are  found  interesting  biographical  sketches  of 
Major  Edwin  W.  Halliday  and  Mr.  Henry  L.  Halliday.  There  are 
also  therein  biographical  sketches  of  Henry  E.  and  Douglas  Halliday, 
sons  of  Henry  L.  Halliday,  deceased,  and  of  William  R.  Halliday,  a 
son  of  Samuel  B.  Halliday,  deceased.  The  one  of  Major  Halliday 
contains  perhaps  more  of  family  history  than  any  of  the  others. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE  GROWTH  OF  "tHE  THREE  STATES" 

THE  taking  of  the  census  every  ten  years  by  the  general  govern- 
ment has  come  to  embrace  so  many  things  besides  an  enumera- 
tion of  the  inhabitants  of  the  several  states  and  territories  that 
it  seems  there  is  now  no  telling  to  what  it  will  not  hereafter  extend. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  not  become  so  encumbered  that  its  use- 
fulness will  be  materially  impaired.  Whatever  it  was  or  has  been,  it 
ought  now  to  be  fairly  reliable,  at  least  as  to  the  numbering  of  the 
people.  Few  of  us  know  or  appreciate  what  the  work  of  its  making 
has  become.  It  is  now  one  of  the  great  administrative  features  of  the 
government,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  so  few  people  care  to  know 
of  the  wonderful  amount  and  variety  of  very  useful  information  the 
census  reports  afford  them. 

We  here  give  the  population  of  the  three  adjacent  states  of  Ken- 
tucky, Illinois  and  Missouri,  beginning  with  the  year  1810,  when  Illinois 
and  Missouri  wxre  territories.  We  give  this  chiefly  to  show  the  compar- 
ative conditions  of  these  great  divisions  of  our  country  in  1810  and  1820. 
It  will  be  seen  that  Kentucky  had  become  quite  a  populous  district  of 
country  when  Illinois  was  almost  uninhabited,  and  that  the  Ohio 
River  was  the  outer  and  almost  abrupt  boundary  of  our  civilization. 

Year                          Kentucky                         Illinois                               Missouri 
1775     300  


1784  30,000  

1790  73,679  .  

1800  220,955  2,458                        

1810  406,511  12,282  20,845 

1820  564,317  55,211  66,586 

1830  687,917  157,445  140,455 

1840  779,828  476,183  383,702 

1850  982,405  851,470  682,044 

i860  1,155,684  1,711,951  1,182,012 

1870  1,321,011  2,539,891  1,721,295 

1880  1,648,690  3,077,871  2,168,380 

1890  1,858,635  3,826,351  2,679,184 

1900  2,147,174  4,821,550  3,106,665 

1910  


208 


GROWTH  OF   "THE  THREE  STATES"  209 


POPULATION    OF   ALEXANDER  COUNTY   AND   CAIRO 

Year                    County             Cairo        Year                     County  Cairo 

1820 626              i860 4,707  2,188 

1830 1,300              1870 10,564  6,267 

(supposed)      1880 14,809  9,011 

1840 3,313              2,000      1890 16,563  10,324 

1850 2,484                 242      1900 19,384  12,566 

1910 

In  1890  and  1900,  on  the  announcement  of  the  city's  population 
the  people  of  the  citj^  were  very  much  surprised  and  disappointed,  and 
in  both  cases  succeeded  in  having  the  census  of  the  place  retaken.  In 
both  instances  four  or  five  hundred  were  added  to  the  number  first  found ; 
but  still  the  additional  number  was  regarded  as  much  too  small.  This 
of  course,  is  a  very  common  occurrence  throughout  the  country;  but 
as  to  the  city  of  Cairo  it  is  probable  an  unusually  large  number  of 
residents  are  absent  from  the  city  on  the  rivers  and  in  the  railroad 
service. 

About  the  close  of  the  year  1864,  the  city  council  ordered  a 
census  of  the  citj^'s  population  to  be  taken,  and  for  that  purpose 
appointed  William  J.  Yost,  whom  many  of  us  well  remember  as  then 
and  af ten\^ards  one  of  the  city's  best  citizens  and  whose  ^  character 
and  standing  assured  the  people  of  the  doing  of  the  work  with  proper 

care. 

On  the  14th  day  of  January,  1865,  he  filed  his  report  which  was 
sworn  to  by  him  and  is  now  found  on  record  in  Journal  C,  pp.  503-505 
of  the  city  records.  He  says  he  did  not  himself  go  above  34th  Street 
or  along  the  levees  because  of  the  bad  roads,  but  as  to  those  places  not 
actually  visited,  he  had  consulted  others  and  made  careful  estimates. 
The  following  shows  the  result  of  his  work. 

White  Colored  Total 

ist  ward 1552  447  I999 

2nd  ward 2328  567  2895 

3rd  ward 934  442  1376 

4th  ward 1672  627  2299 

Totals   6486  2083  8569 

WHITE  AND  COLORED  POPULATION  OF  THE  COUNTY  IN 

1850  AND   SINCE 

Year                               White                            Colored  Total 

1850    2,464                                    20  2,484 

i860    4,652                                   55  4,707 

1870    8,268                             2,296  10,564 

1880    10,239                             4,568  14,807 

1890    11,672                             4,891  16,563 

1900    13,084                             6,300  19,384 

1910    


210  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

These  figures  show  the  relative  increase  in  the  white  and  colored 
people  since  the  year  i860. 

By  the  Federal  census  the  population  in  i860  was  2,188.  Yost's 
census  January  14,  1865,  made  it  8,569,  an  increase  of  6,381  in  four 
years.  It  will  be  remembered,  however,  that  our  four  years  of  war 
had  added  largely  to  our  population;  and  that  in  1870  the  population 
had  fallen  from  8,569  in  January,  1865,  to  6,267,  ^  decrease  of  2,302. 


I 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

ALEXANDER   COUNTY,   ITS   OTHER   TOWNS,    AND    ITS    EARLIEST   SETTLERS 

THE  territory  of  the  county  was  a  part  of  St.  Clair  County, 
when  that  county  was  organized  by  Governor  Arthur  St.  Clair 
March  27,  1790,  It  became  a  part  of  Randolph  County,  which 
was  organized  by  him  October  5,  1795.  It  became  a  part  of  Johnson 
County,  when  that  county  was  organized  by  Governor  Ninian  Edwards 
September  12,  18 12.  It  continued  a  part  of  Johnson  County  until 
January  2,  18 18,  when  it  became  a  part  of  Union  County,  then  or- 
ganized, but  only  by  attachment  thereto  until  it  should  be  formed  into 
a  separate  county,  which  was  done  March  4,  18 19.  It  was,  therefore, 
a  part  of  or  attached  to  Union  County  from  January  2,  1818,  to 
March  4,  18 19.  Its  boundaries  were  the  two  rivers,  and  on  the  east, 
a  north  and  south  line  between  ranges  one  and  two  east,  and,  on  the 
north,  an  east  and  west  line  bet^veen  townships  thirteen  and  fourteen, 
south  range.  These  boundaries  embrace  about  three  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  square  miles. 

The  first  section  of  this  act  of  March  4,  18 19,  fixed  the  boundaries 
of  the  county  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Alexander  County,  for  William 
M.  Alexander,  who  lived  at  America,  the  county  seat.  I  have  not 
been  able  to  obtain  much  information  concerning  Doctor  Alexander. 
He  was  a  practicing  physician  in  America  and  its  vicinity,  and  also 
something  of  a  politician  and  public  man.  He  represented  the  count}^ 
in  the  lower  house  of  the  legislature  in  1820  and  1822.  He  was  also 
speaker  of  the  house  in  1822  and  1824.  In  the  "Historical  Encyclopedia 
of  Illinois,"  of  1900,  is  a  short  sketch  of  him.  He  is  there  said  to  have 
gone  from  America  to  Kaskaskia  and  subsequently  to  some  part  of  the 
south  where  he  died,  but  the  date  and  place  of  his  death  could  not  be 
given  by  the  writer  of  the  sketch.  In  Chapter  I  of  that  part  of  the 
"History  of  Alexander,  Union  and  Pulaski  Counties"  which  relates  to 
Alexander  County  are  found  extracts  from  the  diary  of  Col.  Henrj^ 
L.  Webb,  of  Trinity,  at  the  mouth  of  Cache  River.  Col.  Webb 
speaks  of  Doctor  Alexander  and  of  his  being  in  co-partnership  with 
him  in  certain  business  enterprises.  In  Chapter  II  Doctor  Alexander 
is  again  spoken  of.  I  regret  very  much  that  I  am  not  able  to  say 
more  concerning  this  man  whose  name  our  county  bears.  The  second 
section  of  the  act  appointed  Levi  Hughes,  Aaron  Atherton,  Daniel 
Phillips,  Allen  McKenzey,  and  Nesbit  Allen,  commissioners  to  locate 
the  permanent  seat  of  justice  or  countj^  seat.  The  third  section  re- 
quired the  courts,  elections,  etc.,  to  be  held  "  in  the  house  of  Wm. 
Alexander,  in  said  county,  until  the  public  building  should  be  erected." 


212 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

His  house  was  very  probably  at  America  on  the  Ohio  River.  The 
commissioners  located  the  county  seat  at  America,  where  it  remained 
until  it  was  removed  to  Unity  by  the  act  of  January  i8,  1833. 

The  county  of  Pulaski  was  organized  March  2,  1843,  and  all  of 
Alexander  County  east  of  the  west  bank  of  Cache  River  and  east  of 
Mill  Creek  was  taken  off  and  included  in  Pulaski  County.  This 
left  no  part  of  the  river  in  Alexander  County,  and  reduced  the  area 
of  Alexander  from  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight  square  rniles  to 
about  two  hundred.  The  county  seat  remained  at  Unity  until  Feb- 
ruary 4,  1845,  when  the  legislature  enacted  a  law  removing  and  per- 
manently locating  it  at  Thebes,  in  the  southeast  quarter  of  section 
eight,  township  fifteen  south,  range  three  west,  "commonly  called 
Sparhawk's  Landing  "  on  the  Mississippi  River. 

On  the  1 8th  day  of  February,  1859,  the  legislature  passed  a  law 
providing  for  the  holding  of  an  election  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  Novem- 
ber, 1859,  to  determine  whether  the  people  of  the  county  desired  to 
remove  the  county  seat  from  Thebes  to  Cairo.  The  election  was  held 
on  the  8th  day  of  November  and  resulted  in  a  vote  of  five  hundred 
and  seventy  for  removal  and  three  hundred  and  ninety  against  removal. 
The  polls  were  open  at  Cairo,  Unity,  Thebes,  Santa  Fe,  Clear  Creek, 
Dog  Tooth,  and  Hazlewood.  The  judges  of  the  election  at  Cairo 
were  Daniel  Hannon,  John  Ryan  and  Hugh  Dolan;  and  the  clerks 
were  J.  W.  Timmons  and  John  H.  Robinson. 

It  will,  therefore,  be  seen  that  America  was  the  county  seat  of  the 
county  fourteen  years;  Unity  twelve  years;  Thebes  fourteen  years, 
and  Cairo  now  fift}^  years.  The  court-house  at  Thebes,  a  stone  struc- 
ture, still  occupies  the  hillside  just  as  it  was  built  in  1845.  The 
property  now  belongs  to  Isaac  D.  Dexter. 

The  courts  of  the  county,  after  1859,  were  held  at  different  places 
in  Cairo  until  the  erection  and  completion  of  the  present  court-house 
on  Washington  Avenue  and  Twentieth  Street.  The  contract  for  its 
erection  was  let  March  2,  1863,  to  Mr.  J.  K.  Frick,  whom  a  few  of 
our  citizens  will  remember  very  well,  for  $28,000.00.  It  seems  that 
Mr.  Frick  surrendered  his  contract  after  he  had  done  a  large  part  of 
the  work.  He  was  released,  his  sureties  discharged,  and  the  contract 
for  the  completion  of  the  building  let  to  John  Major  for  $32,000.00. 
The  building  was  not  completed  until  the  early  part  of  1865,  and  the 
first  court  held  therein  was  the  July  term  1865  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas,  presided  over  by  Judge  John  H.  Mulkey,  the  judge  of  that 
court.  (The  writer  was  present  at  that  term  of  court  and  obtained 
from  the  court  the  requisite  certificate,  which  he  subsequently  pre- 
sented with  his  New  York  license  to  the  clerk  of  the  supreme  court 
at  Mount  Vernon  and  obtained  an  Illinois  license.  At  that  time  he 
had  not  decided  to  locate  in  Cairo.)  The  lots  now  constituting  the 
court-house  grounds  were  conveyed  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo 
City  Property  by  deed  of  October  20,  1862,  recorded  in  Book  D, 
pp.  291,  etc.  The  lots  are  13  to  27,  block  48,  First  Addition  to  the 
city.    The  deed  is  upon  condition  as  to  the  use  of  the  property;  but  no 


ALEXANDER  COUNTY 213 

reversion  is  provided  for,  as  in  the  case  of  lot  30,  block  47,  in  the  city, 
on  which  the  first  school-house  was  erected  in  1853. 

In  the  "Historj^  of  Alexander,  Union  and  Pulaski  Counties,"  will  be 
found  interesting  notices  of  America,  the  first  county  seat,  and  of 
Trinity  on  the  Ohio  at  the  mouth  of  Cache  River.  Besides  these  old 
towns,  which  no  longer  exist,  there  was  the  town  of  Marseilles  laid 
out  by  Dr.  Daniel  Arter  and  Benjamin  F.  Echols,  located  on  the  east 
half  of  the  northeast  quarter  of  section  three,  township  sixteen  one 
west.  The  plat  was  acknowledged  March  6,  1839,  and  recorded  in 
Book  D,  pages  60,  61,  and  62.  The  town  embraced  part  of  the  im- 
mediate neighborhood  of  our  present  Villa  Ridge.  The  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  of  1837  ran  across  the  northeast  corner  of  the  town  as 
platted. 

There  was  also  the  town  of  Alexandria  on  the  Mississippi  River 
just  below  the  present  Sante  Fe.  It  was  laid  out  by  Alexander  M. 
Fountaine  and  Chas.  M.  Thurston,  of  Louisville.  The  plat  was  re- 
corded in  Book  D,  on  pages  46,  47  and  48,  March  23,  1838.  It  con- 
tained eighty-nine  blocks  or  squares,  and  1038  lots.  It  embraced  part 
of  those  claims  and  surveys,  of  four  hundred  acres  each,  which,  with 
other  claims  and   surveys,  will  be  found   fully  described   hereafter. 

The  public  and  business  men  of  those  early  days  kept  up  with  the 
times  quite  as  well  as  our  public  and  business  men  do  now,  perhaps 
even  better.  There  was  so  much  less  going  on  and  so  much  more 
leisure,  that  what  was  comparatively  easy  then  would  be  quite  impos- 
sible now.  It  was  well  known  at  Kaskaskia  and  all  over  the  state, 
which  was  then  what  is  southern  Illinois  now,  that  the  Cairo  enter- 
prise (of  1818)  had  failed  and  the  effect  of  this  was  to  cause  other 
men  acquainted  with  this  region  to  seek  another  and  a  better  site  for 
a  city,  near  enough  to  the  confluence  of  the  tv\^o  rivers  to  avail  of  all 
advantages  the  same  afforded.  The  site  chosen  was  America  on  the 
Ohio,  about  twelve  miles  from  its  mouth.  Comegj^s  and  his  associates 
were  quite  pretentious  enough  in  choosing  the  name  of  a  city  in  Africa 
for  the  name  of  their  city  at  this  point;  but  these  other  men  who 
chose  their  site  further  up  the  Ohio  were  still  more  pretentious,  it 
seems,  and  gave  the  name  of  a  continent  to  their  proposed  town  and 
called  it  America.  Trinity  became  a  rival  of  America  and  to  a  large 
extent  supplanted  it,  so  far  as  the  river  business  was  concerned.  Both 
claimed  to  be  the  head  of  navigation.  Trinity  had  the  best  harbor  and 
was  closer  to  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers. 

The  earliest  settlers  in  what  is  now  Alexander  County,  of  which 
we  have  any  account,  were  the  families  of  Joshua,  Abraham  and  Thomas 
Flannary,  John  McElmurry  and  Joseph  Standlee.  Their  settlements 
were  on  the  Mississippi  River  just  south  of  Sante  Fe.  They  established 
there  a  "  Station  Fort,"  and  the  same  was  known  far  and  near  as 
McElmurry's  Station.  Governor  John  Reynolds,  in  his  historj^  of 
Illinois,  speaks  of  this  station  fort;  and  in  another  place,  he  gives  the 


214 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

names  of  the  early  settlers,  in  southern  Illinois,  whose  claims  to  land 
had  been  investigated,  allowed  and  confirmed.  When  these  settle- 
ments were  first  made  we  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain.  All  we 
know  is  that  they  were  made  prior  to  September  3,  1783,  the  date  of 
our  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  at  the  close  of  our  war  of  the 
Revolution;  and  it  may  be  that  they  were  made  prior  to  the  treaty  of 
February  10,  1763,  when  the  French  surrendered  the  Illinois  country 
to  Great  Britain.  In  other  words,  these  settlements  may  have  been 
made  under  grants  of  some  kind  from  the  French  prior  to  1763,  or 
under  grants  from  England  prior  to  1783.  Our  government  was  re- 
quired by  the  fifth  clause  of  the  treaty  of  1783  to  protect  all  settlers 
in  districts  of  country  surrendered  by  Great  Britain  to  our  govern- 
ment and  which  had  not  been  in  actual  arms  against  it;  and  as  early 
as  1788,  it  took  steps  to  secure  to  such  settlers  their  rights  to  lands 
occupied  and  cultivated  by  them.  The  acts  of  congress  of  March  3, 
1 791,  and  of  March  26,  1804,  prescribed  the  course  to  be  pursued 
by  claimants  desiring  to  establish  their  rights  to  the  lands  occupied 
by  them.  These  acts  and  certain  prior  resolutions  of  1877,  limited 
the  quantity  to  be  claimed  by  heads  of  families,  their  heirs  or  assigns, 
to  four  hundred  acres,  and  claimants  were  required  to  show  actual 
occupancy  and  cultivation  as  conditions  to  the  allowance  and  confirma- 
tion of  their  claims.  The  act  of  March  26,  1804,  established  a  land 
oi^ice  at  Kaskaskia,  and  the  claimants  were  required  to  present  their 
claims  and  the  evidences  thereof  to  the  register  and  receiver  of  public 
moneys  there,  who  were  called  commissioners,  and  who  investigated 
each  claim  and  allowed  or  disallowed  the  same,  and  reported  all  claims 
to  congress  for  confirmation  or  for  such  m.odification  of  their  action 
as  congress  might  choose  to  make. 

We  do  not  know  how  many  claims  were  presented  to  the  com- 
missioners for  lands  in  what  is  now  our  county;  but  of  those  presented, 
six  were  allowed  and  confirmed,  as  follows: 

To  John  McElmurry,  Jr.,  Claims  680  and  681,  Surveys  525  and 
526;  to  Joseph  Standlee,  Claim  2564,  Survey  684;  to  Abraham  Flan- 
nary,  or  his  heirs.  Claim  531,  Survey  529;  to  Joshua  Flannary,  or 
his  heirs,  Claim  530,  Survey  528;  to  Thomas  Flannary,  or  his  heirs, 
Claim  529,  Survey  527.  These  four  hundred  acre  tracts  of  land  will 
be  found  outlined  on  all  of  our  county  maps. 

By  the  treaty  of  Paris  of  February  10,  1763,  Spain  acquired  from 
France  and  from  Great  Britain  all  their  claims  to  territory  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  and  she  retained  all  that  territory  until  October 
I,  1800,  when  she  ceded  it  to  France,  and  the  latter  on  the  30th  day 
of  April,  1803,  ceded  it  to  the  United  States.  Under  the  French  and 
Spanish  a  number  of  settlements  had  been  made  on  the  Mississippi 
River  in  what  is  now  the  state  of  Missouri ;  at  New  Madrid,  at  Cape 
Girardeau,  at  Ste.  Genevieve  and  at  some  other  points.  As  late  as 
1795,  Gayoso  de  Lemos  built  a  station  fort  at  what  is  now  Bird's 
Point.  He  had  come  there  to  meet  a  delegation  from  Kentucky  and 
probably  to  confer  with  representatives  of  General  James  Wilkinson. 


ALEXANDER  COUNTY 215 

He  was  the  governor  of  Louisiana  and  was  endeavoring  to  further 
Spanish  interests  in  this  part  of  the  country.  Houck's  ("Missouri.")  It 
will  be  remembered  that  during  our  war  of  the  Revolution,  General 
George  Rogers  Clark  and  man}^  other  public  men  of  that  time  feared 
that  Spain,  being  so  near  us  on  the  west,  might  make  some  movement 
or  other  which  would  require  strong  measures  to  counteract  or  resist, 
as  is  shown  by  General  Clark's  letter  of  September  23,  1779,  given 
elsewhere.  We  cite  these  historical  facts  to  show  that  there  were  no 
doubt  ver)^  early  settlements  on  the  easterly  side  of  the  Mississippi 
River  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  to  Cahokia,  besides  those  at  or  near 
Kaskaskia. 

When  we  recall  the  fact  that  Kaskaskia  was  settled  as  early  as  1700 
and  that  John  Laws'  operations  twentj'  years  later  extended  up  the 
river  as  far  as  Fort  Chartres  where  he  expended  probably  a  million 
of  dollars  in  the  construction  of  the  fort  and  other  works  and  that  hun- 
dreds of  slaves  were  carried  there  and  to  other  points  to  do  the  work 
required  by  their  various  enterprises,  we  cease  to  regard  it  as  strange 
to  find  that  settlements  were  made  here  and  there  on  the  river  but 
of  such  small  extent  as  to  have  well  nigh  escaped  the  searches  of  his 
torians.  It  is  verj^  interesting  indeed  to  read  of  the  extent  and  nature 
of  the  intercourse  between  the  French  settlements  in  upper  and  lower 
Louisiana,  from  the  years  1700  to  1763,  when  the  French  relinquished 
to  Great  Britain  well  nigh  eveiything  they  had  in  America.  The 
Mississippi  was  the  great  bond  or  rather  the  artery  between  the  Cana- 
dians and  Louisiana  French.  All  north  of  the  Ohio  was  Canadian 
and  all  south  Louisianaian. 

This  is  quite  a  digression;  but  it  is  given  here  as  evidence  of  the 
earliest  settlements  on  our  side  of  the  Mississippi  and  near  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohio,  and  also  strengthening  what  has  been  said  elsewhere 
about  Juchereau's  settlement  here  in   1702. 

Returning  to  the  Flannarys,  we  have  only  to  add  that  the  following 
letter  from  the  General  Land  Office  shows  the  source  of  our  informa- 
tion regarding  those  four  hundred  acre  tracts  of  land. 

General  Land  Office, 
Washington,  D.  C,  April  5,  1909. 
Miss  Edna  L.  Stone, 

Stoneleigh   Court,  Washington,   D.   C. 
Madam : — 

In  response  to  your  recent  personal  inquiry,  I  have  to  advise  you  that  the 
claims  Nos.  681,  680,  529,  530,  531  and  2564,  mentioned  in  the  letter  of 
Mr.  John  M.  Lansden  to  you,  which  letter  Is  herewith  returned  to  you,  were 
confirmed  by  the  act  of  Congress  of  May  i,  1810  (2  Stat.,  607),  to  the  persons 
whose  names  are  shown  on  the  surveys  thereof  on  the  plats  of  Tps.  16  S.,  Rgs. 
2  and  3  W.,  photolithographic  copies  of  which  were  secured  by  you.  These 
claims  are  embraced  in  the  statement  of  claims  in  virtue  of  improvements 
affirmed  by  Commissioners  Michael  Jones  and  E.  Backus,  register  and  receiver 
at  Kaskaskia,  said  statement  being  dated  December  31,  1809.  This  statement 
may  be  found  in  printed  form  in  the  American  State  Papers,  Duff  Green's 
Edition,  Vol.  2,  pages  132  to  134,  inclusive.  This  statement  does  not  contain 
a  transcript  of  the  evidence  introduced  in  support  of  these  claims,  but  in  their 
general   report,  found  on  page  102,  said  Commissioners  state: 


2i6 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

There  are  four  species  of  claims  upon  which,  as  commissioners  for  this  dis- 
trict, we  have  had  to  act,  .  .  .  3d.  Those  founded  on  the  having  actually 
improved  and  cultivated  land  in  the  country,  under  a  supposed  grant  of  the 
same  by  court  or  commandant.     .     .     . 

Relating  to  these  claims,  there  have  been  passed  by  Congress  the  following 
laws,  viz:  ...  A  law  of  the  3d  of  March,  1791,  ordaining,  thirdly, 
that  where  lands  have  been  actually  improved  and  cultivated,  under  a  sup- 
posed grant  of  the  same,  by  any  commandant  or  court  claiming  authority  to 
make  such  grant,  the  Governor  of  said  territory  be  empowered  to  confirm  to 
the  person  who  made  such  improvements,  their  heirs  and  assigns,  the  land 
supposed  to  have  been  granted  as  aforesaid,  or  such  parts  as  he  may  judge 
reasonable,  not  exceeding  to  any  one  person  four  hundred  acres. 

III.    Of  Improvement  Rights. 

From  the  proclamation  of  Colonel  Todd,  the  first  commandant  under  Vir- 
ginia after  the  conquest,  and  from  the  many  proofs  we  have  had  of  verbal 
permission  having  been  given  by  him  and  succeeding  commandants  to  indi- 
viduals to  settle  on  the  public  lands,  we  have  raised  the  presumption,  that  in 
all  cases  where  we  have  found  an  actual  improvement  and  cultivation  upon 
vacant  lands,  it  was  made  under  what  the  law  of  1791  terms  a  "supposed 
grant;"  as  we  fully  believe  every  individual  settling  upon  such  lands  thought 
himself  authorized  to  do  so  by  the  then  existing  authority  of  the  country. 

In  our  own  construction  of  the  term  "actual  improvement  and  cultivation," 
we  have  supposed  it  to  mean,  not  a  mere  marking  or  deadening  of  trees;  but 
the  actual  raising  of  a  crop  or  crops,  it  being  in  our  opinion  a  necessary  proof 
of  an  intention  to  make  a  permanent  establishment;  and  we  have  allowed  but 
one  improvement  claim  to  the  same  man,  in  which  we  are  clearly  warranted 
by  the  4th  section  of  the  law  of  1791. 

For  the  authority  of  the  said  commissioners  to  make  report  on  these  claims, 
reference  is  had  to  the  act  of  March  26,  1804  (2  Stat.,  277),  and  the  act  of 
March  3,   1805    (2   Stat.,   343).  Very  respectfully, 

Fred  Dennett, 
Commissioner. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

HARRELL's  short  history  and  "the  history  of  ALEXANDER,  UNION 
AND  PULASKI  COUNTIES" 

IN  the  preface  I  have  spoken  of  the  short  history  of  Cairo,  written 
by  Moses  B.  Harrell  in  1864,  and  constituting  the  first  fifty  pages 
of  a  city  directory  of  that  year.  It  is  an  excellent  history,  con- 
densed, of  course,  almost  to  the  utmost  limit. 

Mr.  Harrell  was  perhaps  the  only  man  in  Cairo  who  could  turn 
out  such  a  piece  of  work  in  the  short  time  he  speaks  of,  and  at  the 
same  time  touch  almost  everything  and  that,  too,  in  so  connected  a  way 
as  to  impress  one  with  the  thought  that  the  work  of  arrangement  and 
condensation  was  his  most  difficult  task.  He  had  come  to  Cairo  at 
a  very  early  day,  namely,  July  8,  1848.  He  had  been  engaged  almost 
all  the  time  in  newspaper  work.  His  fine  memory,  his  extensive 
knowledge  of  all  local  matters,  his  large  store  of  general  information, 
his  easy  use  of  his  pen,  and  his  fluent  style,  enabled  him  to  do  with 
ease  what  other  men  could  do  only  with  much  effort  and  much  time. 

Let  me  introduce  here  a  short  account  of  the  coming  of  the  Harrells 
to  Cairo,  given  me  by  Mr.  Wm.  Harrell  a  month  or  two  before  his 
death,  which  occurred  here,  August  11,  1909,  in  his  eighty-ninth 
year.  There  were  four  brothers,  Bailey  S.,  born  in  1 809;  William, 
in  1820;  Isaac  L.,  in  1826;  and  Moses  B.,  in  1828.  The  family  had 
come  from  Virginia  to  Boone  County,  Kentucky.  They  removed  across 
the  river  to  Cleves,  Ohio.  Bailey  made  a  trip  down  the  river  in  1833. 
He  did  not  stop  here.  There  w^as  nothing  here  then  but  one  or  two 
cabins.  William  passed  Cairo  about  the  25th  of  December,  1837, 
on  a  flatboat,  about  18x85  feet,  loaded  with  apples,  cider,  flour  and 
meats,  and  a  great  many  other  kinds  of  produce.  There  were  five  men 
abroad.  The  boat  and  cargo  belonged  to  Nathan  Sidwell,  of  Cin- 
cinnati. They  stopped  a  few  days  at  Caseyville  on  account  of  the  ice. 
They  did  not  stop  at  Cairo,  but  went  on  south  to  New  Orleans,  where 
they  remained  a  week.  He  went  back  as  far  as  Vicksburg  on  a  steam- 
boat and  from  thence  coasted  along  the  river  for  a  considerable  distance, 
when  he  took  another  steamboat  and  went  on  to  Cleves,  where  he 
arrived  about  the  first  of  April,  1838.  The  old  log  hotel  at  the  point 
and  some  shanty  houses  were  all  that  he  saw  here  at  that  time.  A  few 
acres  of  ground  were  cleared  in  the  vicinity  of  the  hotel.  The  river 
was  high  enough  so  that  he  could  get  a  pretty  good  view  of  the  place. 
On  his  trip  to  New  Orleans  they  met  three  or  four  steamboats,  one 
the  Diana,  one  the  Shippen  and  another  the  Hutson,  all  of  them  side- 
wheel  boats.     Bailey  and  he  made  a  trip  to  New  Orleans  in  1840,  on 

217 


2i8  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

the  Steamer  General  Morgan,  on  which  they  shipped  a  large  number  of 
sheep.  They  sold  out  very  soon  and  returned  on  the  steamboat 
Southerner.  In  the  same  year  he  made  another  trip  on  a  flatboat  owned 
by  Scott  Harrison,  the  father  of  President  Harrison.  They  did  not 
go  further  than  Natchez,  where  they  sold  their  shipment. 

In  the  fall  of  1841,  Bailey  and  he  came  here  with  two  flatboats, 
cattle  in  one,  and  a  general  assortment  of  produce  in  the  other.  They 
sold  all  they  had  to  Howard  and  Hylan,  who  built  the  first  levees  here. 
Their  cargoes  brought  them  about  two  thousand  dollars.  Six  hundred 
of  it  was  paid  in  the  bills  of  the  Cairo  bank  at  Kaskaskia.  On  the  way 
home,  on  a  steamboat,  they  heard  that  the  bank  was  "a  little  shaky," 
and  a  man  told  them  if  they  would  discount  the  bills  at  six  per  cent 
he  would  take  them.  They  did  so  and  had  been  home  not  more  than 
a  week  or  two  when  they  heard  that  the  bank  had  failed.  This  was 
the  bank  authorized  by  the  act  of  January  9,  1818,  entitled,  "An  Act 
to  incorporate  the  City  and  Bank  of  Cairo,"  granted  to  John  G.  Comegys 
and  others  by  the  legislature  of  Illinois  territory.  At  this  time  a  frame 
addition  had  been  built  to  the  old  hotel,  and  the  building  was  full  of 
people,  who  came  to  buy  real  estate.  Straw  beds  had  to  be  put  down 
on  the  floor,  so  great  was  the  number  of  people  here.  There  were 
twelve  or  fifteen  houses  north  of  the  hotel,  up  along  the  Ohio,  and  a 
few  houses  back  of  the  levee.  The  company  had  put  up  a  few  good 
houses.  There  w-as  a  foundry  and  a  machine  shop,  large  buildings, 
and  two  saw-mills.  There  were  three  stores,  one  of  which  was  occupied 
by  Captain  Falls.  Howard  &  Hylan  had  built  the  Ohio  levee,  a 
small  levee  from  the  point  up  to  Eighteenth  or  Nineteenth  Street. 
They  also  built  a  cross  levee,  or  part  of  one,  extending  from  Seven- 
teenth or  Eighteenth  Street  out  westward  near  the  office  building  of  the 
Trustees.  He  described  somewhat  fully  the  large  warehouse,  or  stone 
foundation  for  a  warehouse,  built  on  or  adjoining  the  levee  near  Fourth 
Street  and  extending  back  to  or  near  Commercial  Avenue.  He  said 
it  seemed  impossible  to  purchase  real  estate  in  Cairo  then.  He  heard 
some  men  talking  about  the  matter,  and  one  said  to  the  other  that  he 
had  offered  $20,000.00  for  some  property,  but  the  fools  would  not  sell. 
At  that  time  the  steamboats,  or  almost  all  of  them,  ran  between  the 
island  and  the  Misissippi  levee  and  came  around  close  to  the  point. 
Lawyer  Gass  went  over  on  the  island  and  endeavored  to  make  a  settle- 
ment, that  is,  to  acquire  a  pre-emption  right,  but  the  water  came  up  so 
high  around  him  that  the  calking  came  out  of  his  boat  and  he  had  to 
leave  the  place.  Bailey  and  he  came  again  in  1844.  They  remained 
here  after  that  time.  There  was  little  change  in  the  town  from  1841 
to  1844.  In  1 841,  Howard  and  Hylan  were  anxious  to  buy  all  they 
had.  Their  men,  who  were  chiefly  Irishmen,  were  almost  starving 
and  they  needed  supplies  for  them.  Everything  was  going  to  wreck 
and  people  leaving  the  town,  so  much  so  that  the  population  was  re- 
duced to  two  or  three  hundred.  There  was  a  strip  of  land  cleared, 
extending  back  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  Ohio  side,  probably  not  so 
far  around  the  saw-mills,  the  foundry  and  the  machine  shops.  Beyond 
the  cleared  places,  the  timber  was  generally  very  heavy. 


HARRELL'S  SHORT  HISTORY 219 

The  other  history  spoken  of  in  the  preface  is  the  "History  of  Alex- 
ander, Union,  and  Pulaski  Counties,"  published  in  1883.  It  is  a  large 
work,  containing  nine  hundred  and  tAvent>'-six  double  column  pages. 
The  three  parts  of  it  relating  to  Alexander  County  and  Cairo,  were 
written  by  Mr.  H.  C.  Bradsby,  also  a  resident  of  Cairo  many  years. 
Like  Harrell,  he  was  a  newspaper  man  and  a  good  writer.  He  was 
connected  with  the  Cairo  newspapers  many  years,  and  was  a  corre- 
spondent of  a  number  of  the  newspapers  in  the  large  cities.  His  part 
of  this  large  book  was  well  done. 

While  it  might  be  allowable  to  reproduce  in  this  book  almost  all 
of  what  is  contained  in  Harrell's  short  history,  because  of  the  very  few 
copies  in  the  city,  the  other  one,  in  any  view,  would  have  to  be  left  as 
an  independent  history  up  to  the  time  of  its  publication,  twenty-seven 
years  ago.  With  this  historj'  in  so  many  libraries  and  families  in  the 
city,  I  have  felt  it  my  duty  to  omit  many  matters  and  things  which  are 
set  forth  and  often  very  fully  presented  in  this  large  history  of  those 
three  counties.  One  will  find  that  it  presents  many  matters  not  re- 
ferred to  by  me  at  all,  or  only  very  briefly.  I  have  omitted  them  or 
merely  mentioned  them,  because  found  in  the  other  book;  and  hence 
persons  who  may  not  find  herein  what  they  are  searching  for  should 
refer  to  the  other  work.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  it  has  nothing  that 
can  properly  be  called  an  index.  Its  value  is  greatly  impaired  by  this 
omission.  It  would  be  much  more  useful,  at  least  for  us  here,  were 
those  parts  of  it  relating  to  Cairo  and  Alexander  County  brought 
together  and,  with  a  good  index,  bound  in  a  separate  volume.  Two 
hundred  and  ten  pages  of  the  book  relate  to  Cairo,  tvvo  hundred  and 
thirteen  to  Union  County,  fifty-seven  to  Alexander  County,  eighty-six 
to  Pulaski  County,  sixty  to  biographical  sketches  of  Cairo  men,  and  two 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  to  biographical  sketches  of  men  of  Union 
and  Pulaski  Counties. 

To  facilitate  reference  to  this  large  volume  of  1883,  I  have  given 
further  on  a  list  of  the  citizens  of  Cairo  whose  biographical  sketches 
appear  therein. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

OTHER  RAILROADS ILLINOIS   CENTRAL  AND  THEBES   RAILROAD   BRIDGES 

THE  CAIRO  HARBOR  AND  BACON  ROCK FERRIES:  CAIRO's  NEED  OF 

RAILROAD  Companies — Cairo  has  become  quite  a  railroad  center. 
The  roads  together  with  the  rivers  reaching  southward  and  north- 
eastward and  northwestward  give  us  transportation  facilities 
equaled  by  very  few  other  places  in  the  country.  The  railroads  centering 
here  are  of  such  importance  to  the  city  as  to  require  a  short  account  of 
each  one  of  the  same.  Besides  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  so  fully 
spoken  of  elsewhere,  we  have  now  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad,  the 
Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Railway  or  Railroad,  com- 
monly called  the  Big  Four,  and  across  the  river  in  Missouri,  the  St.  Louis, 
Iron  Mountain  &  Southern  Railway  and  the  St.  Louis,  Southwestern 
Railway.  Besides  these  we  have  the  Cairo  &  Thebes  Railroad  which  will 
soon  be  completed  and  put  in  operation. 

The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  was  chartered  February 
lO,  185 1,  and  its  construction  extended  through  the  years  1852  to  1855. 
There  has  been  some  little  controversy  as  to  when  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  was  finished  and  first  opened  for  operation.  In  the  "Cairo 
City  Times"  (volume  1  number  17,  edited  by  William  A.  Hacker 
and  Len.  G.  Faxon)  of  September  20,  1854,  is  found  a  communication 
from  William  P.  Burrall,  the  president  of  the  railroad  company,  to 
the  executive  committee  of  the  company,  dated  at  Chicago,  September 
7,  1854,  in  which  he  says  that 

Since  the  ist  instant  I  passed  in  company  with  our  chief  engineer,  R.  B. 
Mason,  Esq.,  over  the  entire  line  between  Cairo  and  La  Salle,  308  miles,  and 
find  its  condition  to  be  as  follows: — The  track  is  laid  and  ready  for  operation 
from  Cairo  north  88  miles,  with  the  exception  of  the  bridge  over  the  Big 
Muddy  River,  60  miles  north  of  Cairo.  .  .  .  From  La  Salle  south  the  track 
is  laid  134  miles,  with  the  exception  of  a  piece  of  10  miles  north  of  Decatur. 
.  .  .  The  limit  work  to  complete  the  main  line  is,  therefore,  the  track 
laying  over  the  space  between  the  point  88  miles  north  of  Cairo  and  that  of 
134  miles  north  of  La  Salle,  which  is  a  distance  of  86  miles,  at  the  end  of 
which  is  a  strong  party  now  employed  in  laying  track  and  approaching  each 
other.  When  they  meet  the  entire  main  line  will  be  ready  for  operation.  .  .  . 
North  of  La  Salle  our  track  is  laid  16  miles  to  the  Aurora  junction.  From  that 
junction  to  Freeport,  60  miles,  the  grading  is  now  substantially  ready  for  the 
track.  ...  I  think,  therefore,  that  on  the  ist  day  of  January  next  we 
may  expect  the  whole  line,  from  Cairo  to  Galena  to  be  ready  for  operation 
by  regular  trains,  giving  us  by  Chicago  and  Galena  road,  a  line  from  Chicago 
to  Galena,  by  Aurora  extension  road  a  line  from  Cairo  to  Chicago,  and  by  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  road  a  line  from  St.  Louis  to  Cairo.  .  .  .  On  the 
Chicago  branch  the  track  is  laid  from  Chicago  south  143  miles  and  the  grading 
is  complete,  ready  for  the  rails  for  a  further  distance  of  33  miles.  .  .  . 
We  have,  therefore,  now  actually  laid  409  miles  of  track. 


e 


OTHER  RAILROADS  221 

The  first  time-table  of  the  Cairo  trains  appears  in  a  number  of 
issues  of  the  said  newspaper  in  which  it  is  stated  that  on  and  after 
"Monday,  January  8th  (1855),  passenger  trains  will  leave  Cairo  at 
six  o'clock  A.  M.,  connecting  at  Sandoval  with  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Railroad  for  St.  Louis;  at  Decatur  with  the  Great  Western  Railroad 
for  Springfield,  Jacksonville  and  Naples;  at  Bloomington  with  the 
Chicago  and  Mississippi  Railroad ;  at  La  Salle  with  the  Rock  Island 
Railroad  for  Rock  Island  and  Davenport;  and  at  Mendota  with  the 
Chicago  and  Aurora  Railroad  for  Chicago." 

There  are  a  number  of  other  references  in  this  newspaper  to  work 
on  the  Central,  but  I  can  find  no  statement  as  to  the  time  when 
trains  were  first  in  operation  over  the  whole  line  of  about  710  miles 
of  railroad.  It  must  have  been  as  late  as  the  first  of  October,  1855, 
when  the  road  was  fully  completed  and  in  operation.  As  late  as 
August  I,  1855,  the  travel  to  Chicago  was  still  by  the  main  line  to 
Mendota  and  thence  by  what  is  now  the  C.  B.  &  Q.  See  "Times"  of 
August  8,   1855. 

The  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad  Company  was  chartered  by  the  legis- 
lature of  Alabama  February  3,  1848,  by  the  legislature  of  Mississippi 
February  17th,  by  the  legislature  of  Tennessee  February  28th,  and 
admitted  to  the  state  of  Kentucky  on  the  terms  of  its  Alabama  charter 
by  an  act  of  the  legislature  of  Kentucky  of  February  26th,  of  that  year. 
The  road  was  finished  to  Columbus,  Kentucky,  twenty  miles  south  of 
Cairo,  two  or  three  or  more  years  after  the  Central  was  finished  to 
Cairo.  The  congressional  land  grant  of  September  20,  1850,  was  to 
aid  in  building  a  railroad  from  Chicago  to  Mobile,  and  these  two  rail- 
road companies,  the  Central  and  the  Mobile  &  Ohio,  were  to  receive 
and  did  receive  the  benefits  of  that  act;  and  there  was,  therefore,  some 
two  or  three  years  before  the  Civil  War  a  railroad  from  Chicago  to 
Mobile,  with  the  exception  of  the  gap  of  twenty  miles  between  Cairo 
and  Columbus.  These  two  companies  for  many  years  filled  this  gap, 
as  it  were,  by  the  running  of  steamboats  for  transfer  purposes  between 
those  two  cities. 

On  the  28th  day  of  February,  1870,  the  legislature  of  Kentucky 
incorporated  the  Kentucky  &  Tennessee  Railroad  Company,  the  in- 
corporators of  which  were  A.  B.  SafEord,  Rufus  P.  Robbins,  George 
W.  Eggleston,  Jacob  L.  Martin  and  Thomas  H.  Corbett;  and  on  the 
5th  day  of  June,  1872,  this  company  agreed  with  the  Mobile  &  Ohio 
Railroad  Company  to  build  the  road  and  to  lease  the  same  in  perpetuity 
to  the  latter  company.  The  Kentucky  company  was  authorized  to 
build  a  road  from  a  point  opposite  Cairo  to  some  point  on  the  Mobile 
&  Ohio  between  Columbus  and  the  Tennessee  line,  and  was  authorized 
by  its  charter  to  make  a  lease  in  perpetuity  to  any  other  railroad  com- 
pany. This  arrangement  having  been  made,  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Com- 
pany, in  the  year  1880,  constructed  a  road  from  what  is  now  South 
Columbus,  a  mile  or  a  mile  and  a  half  east  of  Columbus,  up  to  what 


222  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

is  now  called  East  Cairo.  From  that  time  until  1886,  it  operated  its 
road  as  a  single  line  from  Mobile  to  East  Cairo. 

A  little  before  or  after  this,  the  Illinois  Central  acquired  a  road  or 
two  constituting  a  line  from  New  Orleans  to  Jackson,  Tennessee,  and 
thereupon  extended  the  line  from  Jackson  to  Fillmore,  some  two  or 
three  miles  south  of  East  Cairo  and  at  the  place  where  Fort  Holt 
existed  during  the  war.  The  company  operated  its  car  ferryboat  be- 
tween Fillmore  and  its  railroad  incline  just  south  of  its  present  elevator 
in  Cairo  until  a  few  years  afterwards,  when  the  company  extended 
the  road  to  a  point  in  Kentucky  almost  opposite  the  elevator  and  the 
ferriage  was  thereafter  almost  directly  across  the  river.  The  Mobile 
&  Ohio  Railroad  ferried  its  cars  directly  across  the  river  to  the  incline 
of  the  Wabash  Railway  Company  below  the  Halliday  Hotel  for  a  num- 
ber of  years. 

The  Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  Company  was  chartered  Feb- 
ruary 16,  1865,  the  incorporators  of  which  were  Samuel  Staats  Taylor, 
William  P.  Halliday,  Isham  N.  Haynie,  Sharon  Tyndale,  John 
Thomas,  William  H.  Logan,  and  Tilman  B.  Cantrell.  The  companji 
found  it  very  difficult  to  arrange  for  the  construction  of  its  road,  and 
when  it  did  so  it  was  only  for  a  narrow  gauge  road  or  one  of  the 
width  of  three  feet  only.  Its  construction  was  not  undertaken  until 
1 87 1,  and  the  road  not  finished  and  put  in  operation  until  early  in  1875. 
It  was  operated  with  varj-ing  degrees  of  success  until  proceedings  were 
instituted  in  the  United  States  court  at  Springfield  to  foreclose  the 
mortgage  given  to  secure  the  bonds  issued  to  obtain  moneys  to  build 
the  road.  The  property'  was  sold  under  the  decree  entered  in  the  suit 
and  purchased  on  behalf  of  the  bond-holders,  and  on  the  ist  day  of 
June,  1 88 1,  a  new  company,  called  the  St.  Louis  &  Cairo  Railroad  Com- 
pany, was  organized,  and  to  it  all  the  property  was  conveyed.  That 
company  continued  to  operate  the  road  up  to  the  ist  day  of  February, 
1886,  when  it  leased  its  property  to  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad  Com- 
pany for  the  period  of  fort>'-five  years  from  January  i,  1886,  on  the 
condition  that  the  lessee  would  reconstruct  the  road  and  make  it  of 
the  standard  gauge  and  pay  certain  annual  rentals.  The  lessee  entered 
upon  the  work  at  once  and  completed  it  at  a  comparatively  early  day, 
and  from  that  time  to  this,  the  latter  company  has  operated  the  road, 
to  the  great  advantage,  it  is  said,  of  both  the  lessor  and  the  lessee.  It 
may  be  here  remarked  that  in  all  the  experiences  of  railroads  the  world 
over,  few  have  gone  through  more  trying  or  distressing  times  than  those 
gone  through  by  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad  Company  during  the 
war.  The  road  had  been  bonded,  as  were  and  are  almost  all  roads, 
and  consequently  it  came  out  of  the  war  burdened  with  a  very  heavy 
indebtedness.  It  was  like  beginning  existence  over  again  but  under 
the  most  trying  circumstances.  About  this  time,  it  was  taken  charge 
of  by  Mr.  William  Butler  Duncan,  of  New  York,  whose  very  careful 
and  wise  management  brought  the  road  steadily  up  from  its  depressed 
condition  to  one  of  prosperity'  and  assurances  for  the  future.  He  has 
been  with  it  continuously,  and  it  is  due  largely  to  his  judicious  manage- 
ment that  the  road  now  occupies  a  position  so  favorable  and  so  sharply 


OTHER  RAILROADS 223 

in  contrast  with  what  it  was  when  he  took  hold  of  it.  His  extension 
of  the  road  from  Cairo  to  St.  Louis,  by  obtaining  the  lease  upon  the  St. 
Louis  &  Cairo  Railroad,  has  proven  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  for- 
tunate things  which  could  have  been  done  for  either  company,  and 
shows  a  foresight  and  judgment  of  a  high  order  in  railroad  manage- 
ment. A  number  of  j'ears  ago,  the  Hon.  E.  L.  Russell,  of  Mobile, 
became  the  president  of  the  company  and  among  the  many  other  things 
inaugurated  and  carried  out  by  him,  may  be  mentioned  the  discontinu- 
ance of  the  very  expensive  method  of  the  transfer  of  the  company's 
cars  across  the  Ohio  River  by  railroad  ferryboats.  One  of  the  large 
boats  used  for  such  purposes  was  the  railroad  ferryboat  the  W.  Butler 
Duncan.  The  company's  ferriage  contract  was  with  the  Big  Four 
people  or  their  predecessors,  and  the  expense  to  the  company  was  large. 
In  place  of  this,  Mr.  Russell  found  it  best  to  effect  an  arrangement  with 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  by  which  the  company's  trains 
could  have  the  use  of  the  Illinois  Central  bridge ;  and  it  is  now  under- 
stood that  this  arrangement  for  the  joint  use  of  the  bridge  is  to  con- 
tinue until  the  expiration  of  the  lease  of  the  St.  Louis  &  Cairo  Rail- 
road to  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  which  occurs  January 
I,  1 93 1.  It  is  said  that  this  change  in  the  method  of  transfer  across 
the  Ohio  River  has  been  of  a  very  great  advantage  to  the  company, 
giving  as  it  does  an  all  rail  line  from  Mobile  to  the  great  city  of  St. 
Louis.  Mr.  Russell  seems  to  have  had  full  faith  in  the  propriety 
of  making  this  change;  and  I  am  sure  it  has  been  a  matter  of  great 
pleasure  to  him  that  the  results  have  so  clearly  proven  the  wisdom  of 
the  new  method.  One  cannot  overestimate  the  importance  in  rail- 
road building  or  management  of  lessening  the  cost  of  getting  over  or 
across  a  great  river.  It  is  said  this  particular  railroad  bridge  has  fully 
justified  its  construction.     More  than  this  might  no  doubt  be  said. 

After  the  acquisition  by  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company 
of  the  roads  south  of  the  Ohio  River  and  extending  to  New  Orleans, 
the  connection  of  Chicago  with  Mobile  changed  to  a  connection  of  that 
city  with  New  Orleans ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  by  the  lease  above 
mentioned.  Mobile  has  become  connected  with  St.  Louis.  These  cross 
connections  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  in  the  contemplation  of 
the  great  land  grant  of  September  20,  1850,  in  aid  of  a  railroad  from 
Chicago  to  Mobile. 


The  Cairo  &  Vincennes  Railroad  Company  was  incorporated  by 
our  legislature  March  6,  1867,  the  incorporators  of  which  were,  among 
others:  D.  Hurd,  William  P.  Halliday,  Isham  N.  Haynie,  S.  Staats 
Taylor,  D.  T.  Linegar,  N.  R.  Casey,  Green  B.  Raum,  A.  J.  Kuyken- 
dall,  George  Mertz,  John  M.  Crebs,  Walter  L.  Mayo,  John  W. 
Mitchell,  William  R.  Wilkinson,  Robert  Mack,  Samuel  Hess,  Aaron 
Shaw,  James  Fackney,  Jesse  B.  Watts,  W.  W.  McDowell  and  B. 
Rathbone.  The  work  of  constructing  the  road  began  in  1868,  but 
after  considerable  grading  had  been  done  at  different  places  along  the 
line,  the  work  was  suspended  and  was  not  resumed  until  certain  im- 


224  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

portant  county  and  city  bond  matters  had  been  rearranged  because  of 
forfeitures.  The  road  was  completed  and  through  trains  began  to  be 
operated  in  January,  1873.  For  a  number  of  years  the  company  occu- 
pied Commercial  Avenue,  throughout  its  whole  length,  with  its  tracks, 
under  an  ordinance  approved  by  John  H.  Oberly,  April  16,  1869.  This 
use  of  Commercial  Avenue  continued  until  a  change  was  made  by  a 
city  ordinance  approved  on  the  23d  day  of  March,  1886.  This  road 
and  company  followed  about  the  same  course  as  that  shown  above  in 
the  case  of  the  Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad.  It  led  to  the  organization 
of  the  Cairo,  Vincennes  &  Chicago  Railroad  Company,  which  leased 
the  property  to  the  Wabash  Railway  Company;  and  after  a  number  of 
years  the  property  came  into  the  hands  of  the  Big  Four  people,  that 
is,  the  Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Lx)uis  Railway  Company, 
which  is  now  operating  the  road  and  its  northern  extensions  from 
Vincennes  or  from  St.  Francisville  just  this  side.  This  road,  like  the 
Cairo  &  St.  Louis,  was  in  the  hands  of  receivers  for  a  considerable  time 
during  foreclosure  proceedings.  For  a  part  of  the  time  the  same  was 
under  the  management  of  Mr.  Samuel  P.  Wheeler,  whom  most  of  us 
well  remember  as  having  resided  here  verj-  many  years  until  his  removal 
to  Springfield.  He  had  been  the  general  solicitor  of  the  company 
almost  from  its  organization.  He  came  from  New  York  to  Mound 
City  in  1859,  and  from  thence  to  Cairo  in  1865.  He  was  one  of  the 
ablest  lawyers  we  have  ever  had,  and  was  with  all  the  members  of  his 
family  very  highly  esteemed.  About  the  same  time,  that  is,  in  the 
earlier  days  of  this  railroad,  there  were  also  here  Mr.  Roswell  Miller, 
who  has  long  been  one  of  the  leading  railroad  men  of  the  countr}^  and 
Mr.  Thomas  W.  Fitch,  the  auditor  of  the  compan_v,  now  doing  busi- 
ness in  New  York  City,  and  whose  place  of  residence  is  Summit,  New 
Jersey.  The  writer  spent  a  week  at  his  home  a  year  or  two  ago, 
and  can  never  forget  the  many  kindnesses  then  shown  him  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Fitch. 

I  cannot  say  much  concerning  the  roads  across  the  river  in  Missouri, 
save  that  the  Iron  Mountain  road  is  the  somewhat  distant  successor 
of  the  old  Cairo  &  Fulton  Railroad,  which  away  back  in  the  early 
fifties  received  a  land  grant  very  similar  to  that  of  September  20,  1 850. 
The  road  has  quite  a  history,  and  there  were  many  acts  of  congress 
passed  in  regard  to  the  same.  The  Cotton  Belt  Railroad  is  now  a 
well-known  road  constructed  many  years  ago,  running  from  Bird's 
Point  down  through  the  cities  of  Maiden,  Paragould,  Pine  Blufif  to 
Texarkana  in  Arkansas  on  the  Texas  and  Arkansas  line.  It  now  ex- 
tends on  into  Texas  and  with  its  branches,  reaches  Sherman,  Fort 
Worth,  Gatesville  and  other  points  in  that  state.  The  Cairo  &  Fulton 
road  was  to  extend  from  Bird's  Point  through  Poplar  BlufF  and  Little 
Rock  on  to  Fulton,  Hempstead  County,  Arkansas. 


The  Cairo  &  Thebes  Railroad  Company  was  organized  on  the 
25th  day  of  September,  1905.     It  seems  to  have  arisen  out  of  a  desire  to 


OTHER  RAILROADS 225 

obtain  better  facilities  for  trade  between  Cairo  and  the  southeastern 
part  of  Missouri.  While  the  Illinois  Central  had  a  direct  connection 
with  Thebes,  there  was  a  pretty  general  feeling  that  it  was  very  de- 
sirable to  have  another  and  a  more  direct  connection  with  Thebes  and 
the  excellent  means  there  afforded  by  the  great  bridge  for  crossing  the 
Mississippi  River.  The  company  set  out  at  once  and  vigorously  to 
prosecute  the  work  of  constructing  the  road.  It  is  said  that  many 
difficulties  were  encountered  which  were  not  expected.  Then,  too, 
the  financial  depression  of  1907  seems  to  have  almost  arrested  the  work, 
which  has  now  been  resumed  with  a  good  prospect  of  its  early  comple- 
tion. Just  how,  or  by  whom,  or  in  what  connection  the  road  will  be 
operated,  has  not  been  as  yet  made  known;  but  those  in  charge  of  the: 
enterprise  will  no  doubt  adopt  such  plans  and  measures  as  will  make 
its  operation  of  mutual  advantage  to  both  the  company  and  the  people 
it  was  intended  to  serve.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  company  de- 
sired and  that  the  public  authorities  allowed  the  tracks  to  extend  into 
the  city  as  far  as  Washington  Avenue,  where  the  passenger  and  freight 
stations  have  been  established.  The  advantage  of  reaching  the  avenue 
over  that  of  stopping  at  Walnut  Street  is  not  apparent.  Both  are  in 
the  center  of  the  city.  Had  they  come  no  further  than  Walnut  Street, 
every  legitimate  purpose  of  the  company  would  have  been  fully  served, 
and  on  the  other  hand  other  public  interests  would  not  have  suffered. 
The  city  authorities  seem  to  have  forgotten  they  had  valuable  public 
property  in  that  block.  A  railroad  yard  with  its  smoking  engines  and 
its  noise  close  to  a  public  library  will  certainly  not  suffer  by  the  presence 
of  the  library;  but  that  the  librarj'  will  escape  detriment  from  the 
presence  of  the  railroad  yard  is  scarcely  believable.  It  is  greatly  to  be 
hoped  that  the  effect  will  not  be  so  bad  as  many  of  us  fear.  It  was  a 
great  thing,  of  course,  to  have  the  block  filled,  but  balancing  the  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages,  the  library  property  will  be  found  to  be  on  the 
losing  side. 

The  present  officers  of  the  company  are:  Egbert  A.  Smith,  presi- 
dent; J.  Bruce  Magee,  vice-president;  Edward  G.  Pink,  treasurer; 
and  William  S.  Dewey,  secretary  and  general  attorney.  President 
.Smith  has  worked  hard  and  faithfully  to  secure  the  construction  of 
this  road  for  the  city,  as  he  has  for  every  other  enterprise  which  seemed 
to  be  for  its  interests. 


It  is  now  less  than  eighty-five  years  since  the  first  railroad 
was  constructed  in  the  United  States  or  in  America.  How  many 
have  been  built  within  that  time  and  when  and  the  mileage 
of  each  and  the  approximate  cost  thereof,  might  be  ascertained, 
I  suppose,  by  a  very  laborious  search  of  books  and  records.  A  full 
and  accurate  account  of  the  moneys  expended,  of  bonds  issued  and  sold, 
of  municipal  aid  sought  and  obtained,  of  land  grants  made,  of  interest 
accrued  and  paid  and  not  paid,  of  losses  to  persons  at  home  and  abroad, 
to  municipalities,  to  corporations,  to  states  and  to  nation,  would  require 
more  volumes   than   President   Eliot's  five-foot  bookshelf  would  hold. 


226  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Seventy-five  years  of  the  general  business  experience  of  our  country 
w^ould  be  interesting  could  it  be  condensed  into  a  volume  or  two  and 
proper  space  given  to  what  has  been  lost  and  won  in  what  the  world 
persists  in  calling  gambling  in   railroad  stocks. 

But  over  against  the  vast  sums  of  money  which  have  been  expended 
and  lost  in  railroad  building  and  wrecking  in  the  United  States,  we 
must  place  the  wonderful  development  of  the  country  which  never 
could  have  come  about  but  for  the  existence  of  the  railroads.  What- 
ever may  be  said  the  one  way  or  the  other,  no  chapter  in  our  country's 
financial  or  business  histor}^  will  present  so  many  features  of  wisdom 
and  folly  as  will  the  chapter  relating  to  our  railroads  since  the  first 
construction  of  the  same  began. 

Illinois  Central  Railroad  Bridge. — It  is  said  that  after  the 
southern  line  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  had  been  ex- 
tended up  to  the  Ohio  River,  there  arose  and  continued  for  a  number 
of  years  something  in  the  nature  of  a  controversy  in  the  company's 
board  of  directors  as  to  whether  they  should  undertake  to  build  a 
bridge  across  the  Ohio  River.  It  is  further  said  that  on  the  Kentucky 
side,  the  company  sought  to  ascertain  whether  a  solid  rock  foundation 
for  piers  could  be  found  at  such  depths  as  would  justify  the  under- 
taking. Nothing  was  done,  however,  until  engineering  skill  had 
assured  the  company  that  it  was  entirely  practicable  to  rest  the  piers 
on  the  sand  in  the  river  bed.  This  view  of  the  matter  could  hardly 
have  been  in  the  nature  of  an  experiment;  although  in  the  case  of  the 
great  Eads  bridge  at  St.  Louis,  and  we  suppose  of  all  bridges  up  to  that 
time,  solid  rock  foundations  had  always  been  sought  and  reached.  Fol- 
lowing the  construction  of  the  Cairo  bridge,  with  its  piers  so  supported, 
came  next  the  construction  of  the  great  Memphis  bridge  across  the 
Mississippi. 

The  company,  on  the  29th  day  of  March,  1886,  obtained  from  the 
Kentucky  legislature  a  charter  for  the  construction  of  a  bridge  across 
the  Ohio  River,  either  by  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  or 
by  the  Chicago,  St.  Louis  &  New  Orleans  Railroad  Company,  or  by 
both.  All  of  the  bridge,  except  the  Illinois  approach  was  constructed 
by  or  in  the  name  of  the  latter  company,  and  the  Illinois  approach  by 
the  Illinois  company.  The  first  bill  passed  was  vetoed  by  the  governor 
because  it  permitted  the  bridge  to  be  built  from  any  point  in  Ballard 
County,  Kentucky,  to  the  Illinois  shore.  The  act  approved  by  him 
required  its  construction  from  the  Kentucky  side  to  the  Illinois  side 
at  any  point  below  the  mouth  of  Cache  River.  The  bridge  was  begun 
in  1886,  and  opened  for  traffic  October  29,  1889.  It  is  called  a  truss 
bridge  and  is  of  the  length  of  a  little  less  than  a  mile  across  the  river 
proper;  and  each  of  the  approaches  is  about  one  and  a  half  miles  in 
length.  The  whole  length  of  the  bridge  is  a  little  under  four  miles. 
The  original  cost  of  the  bridge  was  three  to  four  millions  of  dollars; 
but  the  filling  of  the  approaches  added  largely  to  the  cost  of  the  struc- 
ture, and  at  this  time  the  outlay  for  the  same  as  it  now  stands  has 
probably  been  four  to  five  millions.    Bridges  may  be  built  across  the  Ohio 


a^^?2SS^ 


OPENING 

OrTHC 

Thebes  Bridge 


OTHER  RAILROADS  227 

River  in  conformity  to  the  acts  of  congress  of  December  17,  1872, 
and  February  14,  1883,  but  under  the  supervision  of  the  secretary 
of  war.  For  bridges  across  the  Mississippi  special  acts  must  be  ob- 
tained from  congress.  Owing  to  the  great  height  to  which  the  Ohio 
River  rises  at  Cairo  at  certain  times  in  the  year,  this  bridge  was  re- 
quired to  be  fift3^-three  feet  above  high-water  mark,  which  is  con- 
siderably above  the  level  of  the  adjoining  lands.  This  made  necessary 
the  very  long  approaches.  The  piers,  therefore,  of  the  bridge  are  of 
great  height  from  the  caissons  to  the  floor  of  the  bridge.  The  width 
of  the  first  two  river  spans  on  the  Illinois  side  is  five  hundred  and 
eighteen  feet  each,  and  of  the  other  seven  spans  four  hundred  feet 
each.  From  the  bottom  of  the  lowest  foundation  of  any  pier  to  the 
level  of  the  steel  work  on  the  two  longest  spans  is  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  (or  exactly  248.94  feet).  From  low-water  mark  to  the 
floor  of  the  bridge  it  is  104.42  feet.    (See  cut  of  river  bed  elsewhere.) 

The  Thebes  Bridge. — Mr.  Charles  S.  Clarke,  the  vice-president 
and  general  manager  of  the  Missouri  Pacific  Railway  Company,  very 
kindly  furnished  me  with  one  of  the  beautiful  souvenirs  of  the  opening 
of  this  noted  bridge,  and  from  the  same  I  have  taken  the  first  cut  of  the 
four  of  the  bridge.  The  second  one  is  of  the  whole  bridge  taken  from 
the  upper  Illinois  side;  the  third  one  of  the  east  or  Illinois  approach, 
and  the  fourth  is  of  the  Missouri  or  west  approach.  Mr.  Clarke  is 
now  one  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  bridge  company.  Ground 
was  broken  on  July  8,  1902,  and  the  first  train  passed  over  the  bridge, 
going,  from  east  to  west,  April  18,  1905. 

The  Southern  Illinois  and  Missouri  Bridge  Company  was  incorpo- 
rated under  the  laws  of  the  state  of  Illinois  on  the  6th  day  of  December, 
1900.  On  the  26th  day  of  January,  1901,  the  act  passed  by  congress, 
authorizing  the  construction  of  the  bridge,  was  duly  approved  by  the 
President. 

The  bridge  is  a  steel,  double-track  structure,  cantilever  type,  of  five 
spans,  the  cantilever  or  channel  span  being  671  feet  long,  each  of  the 
other  spans  being  521  feet  long. 

The  approaches  to  the  bridge  are  of  concrete.  The  western  ap- 
proach consists  of  six  65-foot  arches  and  one  of  100  feet.  The  eastern 
approach  consists  of  five  65-foot  arches. 

The  entire  length  of  the  bridge,  including  the  concrete  approaches 
on  either  side,  is  3,910  feet. 

Nine  hundred  and  forty-five  thousand  cubic  feet  of  concrete  were 
used  in  the  construction  of  the  approaches,  and  twenty-seven  million 
pounds  of  steel  were  required  for  the  superstructure. 

The  spans  are  sixt>'-five  feet  in  the  clear  above  high  water,  108  feet 
above  low  water. 

The  distance  from  extreme  bottom  of  channel  pier,  which  rests  on 
bed  rock,  to  the  top  of  the  cord,  is  231  feet. 

The  Cairo  Harbor. — The  Cairo  harbor  is  one  of  the  very  best 
on  either  of  the  two  rivers.     It  is  never  diflficult  for  the  largest  vessels 


228 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

navigating  the  rivers  to  move  about  therein  with  comparative  ease. 
The  only  collision  of  any  consequence  that  has  taken  place  in  the 
harbor  within  the  last  thirty  or  forty  years  was  that  between  the  rail- 
road ferryboat  W.  Butler  Duncan  and  the  steamboat  The  New  South. 
The  New  South  was  backing  out  from  the  landing  opposite  Sixth  Street 
and  the  Duncan  was  going  down  the  river  keeping  well  over  to  the 
Kentucky  side,  when  The  New  South  struck  her  a  severe  blow  and 
caused  her  to  sink.  The  matter  was  litigated  a  long  time  and  The 
New  South  found  to  be  at  fault. 

On  the  1st  day  of  November,  1909,  the  river  gauge  showed  the  stage 
of  water  to  be  eight  and  a  half  feet,  a  low  stage,  and  at  my  request  Air. 
William  McHale,  now  deceased,  on  that  day  ascertained  for  me  the 
depths  of  the  water  in  the  river  from  Second  to  Thirty-eighth  Streets. 
The  depths  were  taken  some  little  distance  from  the  Illinois  shore, 
then  about  the  middle  of  the  channel,  and  then  considerably  further 
over  toward  the  Kentucky  shore.  The  width  of  the  river  examined 
must  have  been  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  at  least,  and  probably  more.  The 
depths,  counting  from  the  Illinois  side  toward  Kentucky,  were  as 
follows : 

Opposite  2d  Street,  40,  36  and  24  feet;  6th  Street,  43,  34  and  30 
feet;  loth  Street,  37,  32  and  24  feet;  14th  Street,  34,  28  and  20  feet; 
1 8th  Street,  24,  32  and  18  feet;  22d  Street,  32,  26  and  20  feet;  26th 
Street,  34,  26  and  18  feet;  30th  Street,  37,  27  and  15  feet;  34th  Street, 
37,  32  and  15  feet;  and  38th  Street,  40,  25  and  12  feet. 

It  is  observed  that  at  ever)-  point,  except  one,  iSth  Street,  the  deep- 
est water  is  on  the  Illinois  side  and  that  much  the  lowest  water  is  on 
the  Kentucky  side,  and  yet  deep  enough  at  that  low  stage  of  water  to 
serve  all  ordinary'  purposes.  We  have  but  to  add  to  the  above  figures 
the  readings  on  the  gauge  to  get  the  depths  at  any  stage  of  water.  It 
will  be  seen  that  when  the  gauge  reads  30  to  50  feet,  the  depths  will 
range  from  55  to  80  feet,  on  the  Illinois  side.  The  contour  of  the 
bed  of  the  river,  as  seen  in  the  cut  of  the  railroad  bridge  elsewhere 
found,  establishes  the  substantial  correctness  of  the  above  figures. 

Bacon  Rock. — In  July,  1874,  Captain  R.  W.  Dugan  removed 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  River  a  dangerous  obstruction  to  navi- 
gation, called  up  to  that  time  Bacon  Rock.  The  "Cairo  Bulletin"  of 
July  nth  of  that  year  states  that  the  government  had  contracted  with 
Captain  Dugan  for  the  removal  of  the  obstruction.  It  was  a  con- 
glomerate and  was  removed  by  blasting,  which  continued  for  some 
weeks.  Many  of  our  citizens  will  remember  hearing  the  loud  ex- 
plosions that  occurred  during  the  progress  of  the  work.  It  was  out 
some  little  distance  from  the  Illinois  shore  and  but  a  short  distance 
north  of  the  strongly  marked  water-line  between  the  waters  of  the  two 
rivers.  Divers  were  sent  down  to  explore  the  base  of  the  obstruction 
and  to  see  its  character  and  extent.  They  found  it  to  be  of  the  length 
of  about  seventh'  feet  and  of  the  width  of  thirty,  and  its  general  shape 
to  be  that  of  a  whale's  back.  We  have  no  account  of  the  character 
or  nature  of  the  surrounding  materials,  nor  how  far  in  any  direction 


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OTHER  RAILROADS  229 


the  conglomerated  material  extended,  nor  of  its  connection,  if  any,  with 
other  or  kindred  formations.  At  that  time  the  river  was  very  low  and 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  rock  exposed.  This  occurred  very  seldom. 
To  persons  standing  on  the  Ohio  levee,  the  appearance  of  the  rock 
rising  out  of  the  water  was  quite  a  sight.  This  is  due  somewhat  to 
the  fact  of  the  apparent  absence  in  our  vicinity'  of  anything  like  rock 
formations.  It  was  a  dangerous  obstruction,  but  only  in  low-water 
times.  It  is  a  little  remarkable  that  the  government  did  not  take  hold 
of  the  matter  long  before  that  time.  Large  pieces  of  the  blasted 
materials  were  brought  up  to  Cairo  and  the  "Cairo  Bulletin"  of  August  2, 
1874,  noted  the  fact  that  Mr.  Jewett  Wilcox,  of  the  St.  Charles  Hotel, 
now  the  Halliday,  forwarded  some  large  pieces  to  the  Southern  Normal 
School  at  Carbondale. 

In  the  "Cairo  City  Times"  of  Wednesday,  February  21,  1855,  we 
find  the  following: 

Last  Sunday,  the  H.  D.  Bacon,  from  St.  Louis  to  New  Orleans,  struck 
"that  rock"  a  few  yards  from  the  wreck  of  the  Grand  Tower  and  sunk  within 
three  or  four  minutes.  After  her  boiler  deck  was  under  water  she  floated  down 
about  a  mile  and  is  now  lying  on  the  Kentucky  side.  A  number  of  yawls, 
skiffs,  etc.,  started  immediately  for  her,  and  as  soon  as  the  steamer  Graham 
could  get  up  steam  she  went  down  and  took  off  the  passengers,  who  numbered 
some  twenty-five  or  thirty.  No  lives  were  lost.  She  was  heavily  laden  with 
whiskey,  flour,  cattle,  etc.  She  went  down  so  suddenly  that  there  was  no 
time  to  cut  the  cattle  loose  and  they  were  all  drowned.  Her  cargo  consisted 
of  freight  taken  from  the  James  Robb,  which  sunk  near  Cape  Girardeau  last 
Friday.  The  Bacon  was  insured  in  three  different  offices  in  St.  Louis,  for 
$15,000.     We  could  learn  nothing  in  relation  to  the  insurance  on  her  freight. 

In  the  same  column  of  the  "Times"  the  arrival  and  departure  of 
steamboats  are  given,  and  it  seems  that  the  Bacon  arrived  from  St. 
Louis  on  Sunday,  the  i8th  of  February,  and  departed  the  same  day  for 
New  Orleans,  but  did  not  get  further  than  the  obstruction  to  which 
it  gave  its  name. 

Ferries:  Cairo's  Need  of. — By  the  act  of  February  21,  1845, 
Bryan  Shannessy  and  Patrick  Smith  were  authorized  to  establish  and 
maintain  a  ferry  across  the  Ohio  River,  "and  land  passengers,  baggage 
and  stock  at  the  depot  at  Cairo."  The  fourth  and  last  section  of  this 
act  repealed  the  act  to  incorporate  the  Great  Western  Railway  Com- 
pany, approved  March  6,  1843.  Why  this  repealing  act  was  placed 
in  the  ferry  act,  I  do  not  know.  By  the  act  of  February  14,  1861, 
the  ferry  act  of  1845  was  amended.  We  know  very  little  as  to  what 
was  done  under  the  act. 

The  Cairo  City  Ferry  Company  was  chartered  February  13,  1857, 
the  incorporators  of  which  were  Samuel  Staats  Tajdor,  Ninian  W. 
Edwards,  John  A.  McClernand,  John  A.  Logan,  Brj^an  Shannessy  and 
Calvin  Dishon.  The  charter  authorized  the  company  to  establish  and 
maintain  a  ferry  over  the  Ohio  River  to  Kentucky  and  over  the 
Mississippi  River  to  Missouri  within  three  miles  of  the  junction  of 
the  two  rivers;  and  the  right  was  made  exclusive  for  ten  years.  The 
legislature  retained  the  right  to  alter,  amend  or  repeal  the  act  as  the 


230 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

public  good  might  require,  after  twenty  3'ears.  This  company,  or  those 
persons  representing  it,  have  for  fortj-  to  fifty  years  done  almost  all 
the  ferrying  we  have  had. 

By  an  act  of  March  6,  1867,  the  Valley  Ferr\'  Company  was 
chartered,  the  incorporators  of  which  were  David  T.  Linegar,  Patrick 
H.  Pope,  James  S.  Morris,  J.  Reed,  John  Hodges,  Alexander  H.  Irvin 
and  H.  Watson  Webb.  The  ferry  was  to  be  across  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Rivers  to  Kentucky  and  Missouri  and  within  three  miles 
of  the  junction  of  the  rivers.  This  company  soon  after  its  incorporation 
began  the  operation  of  a  ferry  here  between  the  three  states.  Capt. 
John  Hodges  seems  to  have  been  in  charge  of  their  ferryboat,  the 
Rockford,  which  was  brought  by  him  from  Metropolis  to  Cairo  in 
April,  1867.  Controversies  arose  betw^een  the  two  companies  con- 
cerning exclusive  rights  of  ferriage,  and  there  not  being  business  enough 
for  the  two,  the  Valley  Company  discontinued  its  ferry. 

A  person  seeing  Cairo  so  nearly  surrounded  by  the  two  great  wide 
rivers,  would  very  naturally  expect  the  city  to  have  reasonably  good 
ferries  for  passage  to  and  from  the  city  and  to  and  from  the  outlying 
country  districts.  As  for  bridges  for  other  than  railroad  purposes, 
that  is  not  to  be  thought  of.  So  far  from  our  having  good  ferrying 
facilities,  the  rivers  have  seemed  as  walls  or  barriers  across  which  pass- 
age could  be  made  only  in  the  most  primitive  way.  We  have  here 
within  the  city  eight  to  ten  miles  of  river  frontage,  entirely  surrounding 
the  city,  excepting  the  rather  narrow  neck  of  Illinois  land  of  the 
width  only  of  som.ething  over  a  mile.  We  have  never  had  anything 
like  good  ferriage  facilities.  This  is  due  to  the  difficulties  of  the  situa- 
tion, that  is,  to  the  extreme  distance  of  the  rise  and  the  fall  of  the  rivers, 
and  the  unstable  river  shores,  especially  on  the  Mississippi.  It  seems 
impossible  to  construct  permanent  landing-places.  Those  we  have  had 
have  been  shifted  from  place  to  place  so  that  they  have  never  been  any- 
thing but  of  the  poorest  kind.  I  cannot  dwell  upon  this  matter,  but  desire 
to  say  that  the  absence  of  good  ferrying  facilities  has  been  a  great  and 
ever-continuing  drawback  to  the  prosperity  of  the  city.  Perhaps  the 
time  has  gone  by  for  regaining  the  ground  that  might  have  been  gotten 
and  held,  had  the  city  been  strong  enough  to  do  so.  Towns  of  a  more 
or  less  prosperous  growth  have  grown  up  near  us  and  have  well  supplied 
the  people  who  might  have  come  to  Cairo  had  they  been  able  to  get 
here  easily.  The  city,  it  seems,  has  never  been  able  to  offer  free 
ferriage;  but  were  it  able  to  do  so  and  to  make  the  approaches  reason- 
ably easy  and  free  from  danger,  our  people  would  be  astonished  at  the 
local  trade  which  could  still  be  drawn  to  the  city.  I  have  elsewhere 
referred  to  local  trade  as  the  main  support  of  many  of  the  best  cities 
of  the  state.  The  now  less  useful  rivers  are  the  same  effective  barriers 
to  local  trade  they  have  alwaj's  been.  I  do  not  know  what  the  city 
could  now  do;  but  at  the  earliest  practicable  time  it  should,  with  the 
hearty  co-operation  of  the  people,  arrange  in  some  way  to  reduce  to 
the  minimum  the  expense  of  reaching  the  city  from  across  the  two 
rivers.     If  it  could  be  made  free,  it  would  be  far  better. 


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X 


Cairo-Kaskaskia  Bank  Bills 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

CAIRO      BANKS BUILDING      AND      LOAN      ASSOCIATIONS THE      CUSTOM 

HOUSE THE  HALLIDAY  HOTEL THE  SPRINGFIELD  BLOCK THE 

COURT  OF  COMMON  PLEAS ALEXANDER  M.  JENKINS 

CAIRO  Banks. — On  the  2d  day  of  March,  1839,  the  legislature 
granted  to  the  Cairo  City  &  Canal  Company  the  right  to  use 
the  banking  privileges  granted  by  the  Territorial  Act  of  Jan- 
uary 9,  1818,  to  the  City  and  Bank  of  Cairo,  the  tenth  section  of 
which  required  the  banking  business  of  the  corporation  to  be  trans- 
acted at  Kaskaskia;  hence,  the  reason  why  the  bank  bills  represented  on 
the  opposite  page  were  issued  at  Kaskaskia.  Bills  were  issued  from 
time  to  time  and  to  such  an  extent  that  the  legislature  thought  best 
to  interfere;  and  on  March  4,  1843,  it  repealed  the  act  of  January  9, 
1 81 8,  so  far  as  it  related  to  banking. 

The  City  Bank  of  Cairo  was  organized  in  the  year  1858  under  the 
general  banking  law  of  the  state,  by  Mr.  Lotus  Niles,  of  Springfield. 
Of  this  bank  Mr.  James  C.  Smith  was  president  and  Mr.  Alfred  B. 
Safford  was  the  cashier.  It  carried  on  its  business  in  Cairo  up  to 
the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  City  National  Bank. 

The  Planters  Bank  of  Cairo  was  organized  under  the  same  general 
banking  act  in  the  same  year  and  by  a  Mr.  Trimble,  of  McCracken 
County,  Kentucky.  It  did  business  here  for  a  few  years  and  seems  to 
have  been  succeeded  by  the  First  National  Bank  of  Cairo. 

The  First  National  Bank  of  Cairo  was  organized  on  the  24th 
day  of  July,  1863,  under  the  National  Banking  Act  of  February  25, 
1863.  The  first  board  of  directors  were  John  W.  Trover,  Daniel 
Hurd,  Robert  W.  Miller,  and  the  president,  cashier  and  teller  were 
John  W.  Trover,  Daniel  Hurd  and  William  H.  Morris.  The  bank 
continued  to  do  business  for  many  years;  but  its  experience  was  some- 
what varied,  and  its  stock  depreciating,  Capt.  William  P.  Halliday 
acquired  the  controlling  interest  in  the  stock,  and  after  having  carried 
on  the  business  of  the  bank  for  a  year  or  two,  found  it  best  to  dis- 
continue the  institution. 

The  City  National  Bank  of  Cairo  was  organized  February  7,  1865, 
under  the  same  National  Banking  Act.  The  first  board  of  directors 
were  William  P.  Halliday,  Samuel  B.  Halliday,  A.  B.  Safford,  S. 
Staats  Taylor,  and  G.  D.  Williamson.  The  first  of  these  became  its 
president,  the  second  its  vice-president,  and  the  third  its  cashier.  They 
continued  in  these  positions  up  to  the  times  of  their  respective  deaths. 
This  bank  continued  to  transact  a  large  business  in  Cairo  for  over 
forty  years,  and  until  merged  into  the  present  First  Bank  &  Trust 
Company. 

231 


232  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

The  Enterprise  (Savings)  Bank  of  Cairo  was  chartered  March  3, 
1869,  the  incorporators  of  which  were  William  P.  Halliday,  William  H. 
Green,  and  Alfred  B.  Safford.  It  was  conducted  chiefly  as  a  savings 
bank  and  did  a  large  business  until  its  merger,  with  the  City  National, 
into  the  First  Bank  &  Trust  Company. 

The  First  Bank  &  Trust  Company  was  organized  on  the  2d  day 
of  January,  1907,  and  is  the  successor  of  the  City  National  Bank  and 
the  Enterprise  (Savings)  Bank  above  mentioned.  The  present  officers 
and  board  of  directors  of  the  bank  are  as  follows:  John  S.  Aisthorpe, 
president;  Henry  S.  Candee,  Walter  H.  Wood,  and  William  P.  Halli- 
day, vice-presidents;  H.  R.  Aisthorpe,  cashier  and  secretary;  Thomas 
P.  Cotter,  Reed  Green,  H.  E.  Halliday,  Andrew  Lohr,  Peter  Saup, 
Paul  G,  Schuh  and  Thomas  J.  Smyth. 

There  was  no  other  bank  in  Cairo  besides  the  two  National  Banks 
from  the  year  1865  until  the  year  1875,  when  Thomas  Lewis,  long  a 
resident  of  Cairo,  organized  the  Alexander  Count>^  Bank  under  the  state 
banking  law  of  February  15,  1851,  and  only  a  short  time  before  that 
act  was  repealed  by  the  adoption  of  the  state  constitution  of  18 70. 
The  officers  of  that  bank  were  P.  C.  Canady,  president;  Henry  Wells, 
vice-president;  Thomas  Lewis,  cashier;  and  Thomas  J.  Kerth,  assist- 
ant cashier.  About  one  year  later,  the  bank  was  reorganized,  with 
Judge  Fredolin  Bross  as  president;  Peter  Neff  as  vice-president; 
Henry  Wells,  cashier;  and  Thomas  J.  Kerth,  assistant  cashier.  It 
continued  its  banking  business  until  July  i,  1887,  w^hen  it  was  changed 
to  a  national  bank,  and  called  the  Alexander  County  National  Bank. 
Its  present  board  of  directors  and  officers  are  as  follows:  Edward  A. 
Buder,  president;  Charles  Feuchter,  vice-president;  James  H.  Galli- 
gan,  cashier;  Charles  O.  Patier,  Calvin  V.  Neff,  William  Kluge,  N. 
B.  Thistlewood,  David  S.  Lansden,  George  Parsons,  and  Thomas 
Boyd.  In  the  year  1889,  the  Alexander  County  Savings  Bank  was 
organized.  Its  officers  and  directors  are  those  of  the  Alexander  County 
National  Bank. 

The  Cairo  National  Bank  was  organized  in  August,  1903,  under 
the  same  national  banking  act.  It  has  done  a  prosperous  business  and 
seems  to  have  fully  justified  its  establishment.  The  present  board  of 
directors  and  the  officers  are  as  follows:  Egbert  A.  Smith,  president; 
W.  F.  Grinstead,  vice-president;  E.  E.  Cox,  cashier;  and  Q.  E. 
Beckwith,  assistant  cashier;  Daniel  Hartman,  M.  J.  Howley,  E.  J. 
Pink,  T.  J.  Kerth,  P.  I.  Nassauer,  Oscar  L.  Herbert,  and  F.  Teichman. 

Building  and  Loan  Associations. — These  associations  might 
properly  be  called  institutions  of  the  city.  That  would  be  saying  a 
great  deal  for  them,  but  not  more  than  they  deserve.  The  evil  of 
waste  and  prodigality  is  all  prevailing.  Anything  that  tends  to  teach 
frugality,  economy,  saving,  thrift,  should  stand  in  great  favor.  Any- 
thing that  tends  to  afford  means  or  methods  by  which  homes  may  be 
procured  is  certainly  a  very  great  thing  in  any  civilized  community. 
By  means  of  these  associations  hundreds  of  homes  have  been  secured  in 


'^ 


CAIRO  BANKS  233 


our  city;  and  besides  this,   the  invaluable  lesson  of  economy  has  been 
widely  and  strikingly  taught. 

The  Cairo  Building  and  Loan  Association  was  established  in 
the  year  1880.  Esq.  Alfred  Comings  has  been  at  its  head  all  the  time, 
and  to  him,  more  than  to  any  other  man,  its  success  has  been  due.  It 
is  the  pioneer  society  and  should  have  the  credit  accorded  all  pioneers. 
I  would  be  glad  to  give  some  statistics  here,  all  of  which  v^^ould  be 
strongly  confirmatory  of  what  I  have  said  of  the  above  associations. 
The  present  officers  and  directors  of  this  association  are:  Henry  Kasen- 
jager,  president;  Wm.  Schatz,  vice-president;  A.  Comings,  secretaty; 
J.  H.  Galligan,  treasurer;  P.  A.  Conant,  L.  H.  Myers,  W.  P. 
Greanej^,  John  C.  Gholson,  Charles  F.  Miller,  and  Paul  G.  Schuh. 

The  Citizens'  Building  and  Loan  Association  was  established 
in  the  year  1887.  Its  present  officers  and  directors  are:  E.  A.  Buder, 
president;  M.  J.  Howley,  vice-president;  J.  C.  Crowley,  secretaty; 
E.  E.  Cox,  treasurer;  John  W.  C.  Fry,  E.  G.  Pink,  G.  T.  Carnes, 
Charles  Feuchter,  and  G.  P.  Crabtrce. 

The  Home  Building  and  Loan  Association  was  established  in 
1890.  Its  present  officers  and  directors  are:  Alexander  Wilson,  presi- 
dent; C.  R.  Stuart,  vice-president;  E.  C.  Halliday,  secretary;  George 
T.  Carnes,  treasurer;  Miles  Fred'k  Gilbert,  attorney;  E.  J.  Stuart, 
G.  P.  Crabtree,  C.  B.  Dewey,  and  T.  L.  Pulley. 

The  Central  Building  and  Loan  Association  was  established 
in  1899.  Its  present  officers  and  directors  are:  J.  B.  Magee,  presi- 
dent ;  C.  S.  Carey,  vice-president ;  Edward  L.  Gilbert,  secretaty ; 
Thomas  J,  Kerth,  treasurer;  William  S.  Dewey,  attorney;  Frank 
Thomas,  H.  S.  Antrim,  T.  J.  Pryor,  A.  T.  DeBaun,  A.  J.  Rees,  W. 
P.  June,  and  Ira  Hastings. 

The  Greater  Cairo  Building  and  Loan  Association  was  estab- 
lished in  the  year  1905.  Its  present  officers  and  directors  are:  Paul 
G.  Schuh,  president;  Bernard  McManus,  Jr.,  vice-president;  Matt 
C.  Metzger,  secretaty;  Wm.  P.  Greaney,  treasurer;  Frank  Fergu- 
son, Walter  Denzel,  Reed  Green,  Ed.  Hall,  and  Peter  Day. 

The  capital  stock  allowed  to  each  of  the  above  five  associations  is 
$1,000,000. 

The  Custom  House. — Cairo  was  made  a  port  of  delivety  by  the 
act  of  congress  of  August  3,  1854.  It  ^'^^  discontinued  August  31, 
1885,  and  re-established  September  4,  1890.  The  following  named 
persons  were  surveyors  of  the  port  in  the  order  named : 

Col.  John  S.  Hacker,  1854  to  1858;  Levi  L,  Lightner,  1858  to 
1861 ;  Col.  James  C.  Sloo,  in  1861 ;  Daniel  Arter,  1861  to  1869; 
George  Fisher,   1869  to  1885;  John  F,  Rector,   1890  to   1894;  Frank 


234  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Cassiday,  1894  to  1898;  Thomas  C.  Elliott,  1899,  to  the  present  time. 
Cairo  was  never  a  port  of  entry.  We  suppose  no  place  or  point  in 
southern  Illinois  was  made  a  port  of  entry  since  the  old  act  of  February 
28,  1799,  the  14th  section  of  which  created  a  collection  district,  called 
the  District  of  Massac.  The  territory  embraced  in  the  district  in- 
cluded the  lands  "relinquished  and  ceded  to  the  United  States  by  the 
Indian  nations  at  the  treaty  of  Greenville,  August  3,  1795,  lying  near 
the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  and  on  the  north 
side  thereof  and  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  to  the  eastern  side  of  the 
river  Wabash."  Fort  Massac,  or  such  other  place  as  the  President 
might  designate,  was  made  the  sole  port  of  entry  for  the  district,  and 
a  collector  was  to  be  appointed  who  should  reside  thereat.  Ports  of 
entry  are  those  ports  established  by  law  at  which  imported  goods  are 
fully  described,  that  is,  entered  in  and  according  to  the  form  prescribed 
therefor.  The  entries  are  made  by  the  owner  of  the  vessel,  a  consignee 
of  the  goods,  or  other  properly  authorized  person.  Ports  of  delivery  are 
those  at  which  goods  may  be  delivered  and  unloaded  after  having  passed 
ports  of  entry. 

On  the  1 8th  day  of  February,  1859,  the  legislature  ceded  to  the 
United  States  jurisdiction  over  block  thirty-nine  in  the  city  for  the 
construction  of  a  building  for  a  United  States  court,  a  post-office  and 
a  custom  house.  The  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Propert)^  on  the 
28th  day  of  April,  1866,  conveyed  to  the  United  States  the  said  block, 
bounded  by  Washington  Avenue,  Poplar  Street  and  Fourteenth  and 
Fifteenth  Streets;  and  in  the  years  1868  to  1871,  various  appropriations, 
amounting  to  one  hundred  and  eighty-four  thousand  dollars,  were 
made  by  congress  for  the  erection  of  the  present  building  on  the  block. 
The  entire  cost  of  the  property  is  said  to  have  been  as  much  as  two 
hundred  and  t\vent}^-five  thousand  dollars.  The  government  began 
the  erection  of  the  building  in  the  year  1869,  and  the  same  was  com- 
pleted in  the  year  1872.  The  building  was  planned  by  the  supervising 
architect  at  Washington,  Mr.  A.  B.  Mullett,  who,  when  he  came  here 
and  saw  that  the  main  floor  of  the  structure  was  to  be  on  a  level  with 
the  then  existing  levees,  ordered  so  much  of  the  stone  courses  of  the 
walls  removed  as  would  bring  it  down  to  the  present  grade.  This 
recalls  the  fact  that  long  before  that  time,  it  was  the  desire  of  a  great 
many  persons  to  have  all  the  buildings  of  a  permanent  character  erected 
to  the  grade  of  the  levees ;  and  I  believe  the  city  established  such  a  grade. 
Winter's  block  building  on  the  corner  of  Seventh  Street  and  Com- 
mercial Avenue,  now  the  property  of  Mr.  Edward  A.  Buder,  was 
built  to  this  high  grade ;  but  it  appearing  that  a  lower  grade  was  likely 
to  come  into  general  use,  especially  as  the  city  government  favored  the 
lower  grade,  the  owners  of  the  building  at  very  great  expense  lowered 
the  same  to  the  present  grade.  The  beginning  of  the  construction  of 
the  custom  house  building  to  the  high  grade  was  about  the  last  im- 
portant attempt  made  in  the  city  to  build  to  that  grade.  The  fine 
property  of  the  Trustees  on  the  east  side  of  Washington  Avenue,  be- 
tween Eighteenth  and  Nineteenth  Streets,  is  another  example  of  high- 
grade  construction.     It  is  a  matter  of  great  regret  that  this  high-grade 


CAIRO  BANKS  235 


method  of  building  and  street  filling  could  not  have  been  carried  out. 
I  do  not  suppose  the  city  will  ever  return  to  it.  Too  much  has  been 
done  and  too  much  money  expended  to  allow  of  the  change.  As  here- 
tofore stated  a  number  of  times,  it  was  a  question  of  money,  but  Super- 
vising Architect  Mullett  could  not  have  regarded  the  matter  of  ex- 
pense as  important  in  the  case  of  the  Cairo  custom  house.  As  else- 
where remarked,  the  government  could  not  accept  the  transfer  of  the 
block  above  mentioned  and  erect  thereon  an  expensive  building  without 
the  strongest  assurances  as  to  the  title  of  the  Trustees.  This  was 
perhaps  the  most  important  instance  in  which  the  Trustees  undertook 
to  show  a  title  back  to  the  government  itself,  or  as  we  generally  say, 
a  perfect  title.  Mr.  James  C.  Rankin  was  for  a  time  superintendent 
of  the  construction  of  the  custom  house.  He  was  succeeded  by  Mr. 
George  Sease.  Although  forty  years  ago  many  of  our  citizens  will 
remember  those  gentlemen. 

The  Halliday  Hotel. — The  "Commercial  Gazetteer  of  the  Ohio 
River,"  with  a  map  of  the  river  from  Pittsburg  to  Cairo,  and  published 
at  Indianapolis  in  1861,  by  G.  W.  Havves,  contains  quite  a  long  list  of 
Cairo  advertisers,  a  few  of  whom  only  can  be  mentioned.  There  is 
not  a  word  in  any  of  its  four  hundred  and  forty-six  pages  to  indicate 
that  the  war  had  then  opened.  The  following  are  some  of  the  adver- 
tising cards  in  the  book:  I.  &  W.  Adler,  clothing;  John  Antrim, 
wholesale  and  retail  dealer  in  clothing,  hats,  caps,  etc. ;  Atlantic  Hotel, 
F.  E.  Wilson,  15  Ohio  Levee;  Blelock  &  Co.,  booksellers;  H.  H. 
Candee  and  M.  S.  Gilbert,  wholesale  grocers,  forwarding  and  com- 
mission merchants.  No.  i  Springfield  Block;  John  Cheek,  hay,  corn, 
oats,  etc.;  The  City  Bank  of  Cairo,  A.  B.  Safford,  cashier;  Charles 
Galigher  &  Co.,  Cairo  City  Mills,  Premium  Eagle  Flour;  Graham, 
Halliday  &  Co.,  forwarding  merchants  and  wharfboat  proprietors; 
Hamilton  &  Riley,  dry  goods;  Planters  Bank,  Bank  Building,  Ohio 
Levee,  Walter  Hyslop,  cashier;  G.  F.  Rasor,  International  Saloon, 
Ohio  Levee;  A.  B.  Safford,  general  insurance  agent  and  cashier  of 
City  Bank  of  Cairo;  Smyth  &  Brother,  wholesale  and  retail  grocers; 
J.  Q.  Stancil,  butcher  and  meat  market.  Commercial  Avenue ;  A.  F.  & 
J.  B.  Taylor,  wholesale  grocers,  commission  and  forwarding  merchants. 
No.  9  Springfield  Block;  Trover  &  Miller,  forwarding  commission  and 
grocery  merchants.  No.  11  Ohio  Levee;  F.  Vincent,  wholesale  and 
retail  dealer  in  produce,  provisions,  etc.,  18  Ohio  Levee;  I.  Walder  & 
Co.,  wholesale  and  retail  dealers  in  clothing;  Williamson,  Haynes  & 
Co.,  commission  and  forwarding  merchants  on  their  new  wharfboat; 
Wilson  &  Co.,  forwarding  and  commission  merchants.  No.  4  Spring- 
field Block;  William  Winter,  hardware,  Commercial  Avenue,  and 
restaurant,  Ohio  Levee. 

Among  the  numerous  hotels  named  are  the  St.  Charles,  the  Lamothe 
House,  the  Louisiana  House,  the  Virginia  Hotel  and  the  Central 
House.  The  St.  Charles  Hotel  twenty  years  afterwards  became  the 
Halliday  Hotel. 

I  may  speak  of  the  Halliday  Hotel  as  one  doing  and  having  long 


236  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

done  great  credit  to  our  cit}\  Were  almost  everything  else  in  the  city 
made  to  correspond  with  it,  we  would  have  a  fine  city  of  fifty  to  one 
hundred  thousand  people.  If  we  could  "grow  twenty  feet  high  and 
swell  out  in  proportion,"  in  the  language  of  Dickens,  so  as  to  corre- 
spond with  the  hotel,  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  bridge  would  be 
at  the  center  of  the  city  instead  of  being  on  its  north  boundary  line. 

On  the  9th  day  of  February,  1857,  the  legislature  of  the  state  in- 
corporated the  Cairo  City  Hotel  Company.  The  incorporators  were 
Ninian  W.  Edwards,  John  T.  Smith,  John  E.  Ousley,  Hiram  Walker, 
William  Butler,  Daniel  Hannon,  Thomas  Ragsdale,  James  C.  Conk- 
ling,  John  Cook,  Philip  Wineman,  Thomas  H.  Campbell,  Benjamin 
F.  Edwards,  W.  J.  Stephens  and  Abraham  Williams.  The  hotel  was 
in  the  course  of  construction  when  the  inundation  of  June  12,  1858, 
occurred;  and  the  water  coming  in  all  around  the  foundation  and 
reaching  a  large  storage  of  lime,  the  effect  was  such  as  to  cause  a  part 
of  one  of  the  w^alls  to  fall.  The  work  went  on  at  once  after  the  sub- 
sidence of  the  water,  and  the  hotel  w^as  finished  and  named  the  St. 
Charles  and  opened  about  the  first  of  Januar}',  1859.  It  was  conducted 
by  different  persons  from  time  to  time,  under  leases  from  its  owners; 
and  like  almost  everything  else  in  Cairo,  had  a  somewhat  varied  ex- 
perience, especially  after  the  war  closed.  During  the  war  its  business 
was  up  to  its  full  capacity  all  the  time.  Afterw^ards  it  shared  largely 
in  the  general  shrinkage  which  took  place.  The  ownership  of  the 
hotel  changed  but  two  or  three  times,  and  in  the  year  1880,  Halliday 
Brothers  acquired  the  property,  and  so  improved  it  as  to  make  it  almost 
a  new"  building.  Its  name  was  changed  to  "The  Halliday"  and  opened 
under  the  new  management  July  1,  1881.  New  improvements  were 
made  from  time  to  time,  until  in  1908,  the  very  large  addition  was 
made  on  the  south  side,  greatly  enlarging  its  capacity  and  rendering  it 
in  every  respect  a  first-class  modern  hotel.  The  property  now  belongs 
to  the  estate  of  Capt.  Halliday,  and  with  the  Gayoso  Hotel,  of 
Memphis,  has  been  under  the  management  of  Mr.  L.  P.  Parker  for  a 
number  of  years.  Mr.  Parker  has  long  stood  in  the  front  rank  of 
hotel  managers.  If  the  reader  will  turn  to  Chapter  XXX  and  read  the 
account  there  given  by  a  Frenchman  he  will  see  what  the  Frenchman 
said  of  the  hotel  about  the  time  it  was  first  opened.  The  Frenchman's 
language  is  extravagantly  commendatory;  but  the  fact  is  that  this  hotel 
from  the  day  it  w^as  first  opened  to  the  present  time  has  been  far  above 
the  character  and  standing  of  almost  any  hotel  anywhere  in  the  country 
in  a  city  not  larger  than  ours. 

The  Springfield  Block. — This  block  when  it  first  received  its 
name  extended  from  6th  to  8th  Streets  and  fronted  on  what  is  now 
Ohio  Street.  The  buildings  were  erected  by  Springfield  men,  including 
Governor  Joel  A.  Matteson,  and  almost  all  of  the  hotel  men  above 
mentioned.  Governor  Matteson  erected  the  City  National  Bank  build- 
ing, changed  considerably  in  the  last  few  years  and  now  the  property 
of  the  First  Bank  &  Trust  Company.     The  rooms  on  the  second  and 


CAIRO  BANKS  237 


third  floors  of  this  building  were  occupied  during  the  war  by  many 
distinguished  army  men.  General  Grant,  while  here  in  1861,  occupied 
the  second-floor  rooms  on  the  north  side  of  the  building,  rooms  now 
constituting  the  law  offices  of  the  Hon.  Miles  Frederick  Gilbert.  In 
that  pamphlet  of  105  pages,  entitled  "Past,  Present  and  Future  of 
Cairo,"  frequently  referred  to  herein,  those  Springfield  men  set  forth 
the  fact  that  they  had  invested  three  to  four  hundred  thousand  dollars 
in  Cairo  in  the  purchase  of  lots  and  in  the  making  of  improvements 
thereon,  and  claiming  that  for  the  damages  done  them  by  the  inundation 
of  June  12,  1858,  the  Trustees,  or  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany, or  both  together,  should  reimburse  them. 

The  Court  of  Common  Pleas. — This  court  was  established  by 
our  legislature  for  the  city  by  the  act  of  February  6,  1855.  It  was 
amended  in  many  important  particulars  by  the  act  of  Februarj^  14, 
1859.  It  had  jurisdiction  to  the  amount  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  and 
of  all  crimes  except  those  of  treason  and  murder.  Its  first  judge,  the 
Hon.  Isham  N.  Haynie,  was  appointed  by  Governor  Joel  A.  Matteson 
February  13,  1856,  and  again  January  8,  1857.  The  law  provided 
that  in  1861,  and  every  six  years  thereafter,  the  judge  of  the  court 
should  be  elected  by  the  people  of  the  cit^^  Judge  John  H.  Mulkey 
was  elected  judge  of  the  court  June  12,  1861,  and  again  June  27,  1867. 
He  held  the  office  until  it  was  abolished  by  the  act  of  February'  ig,  1869. 
H.  Watson  Webb  was  appointed  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  court 
April  24,  1856,  and  served  in  that  capacit>^  until  June  26,  1867,  when 
Fountain  E.  Albright  was  elected  to  succeed  him. 

Judge  Haynie  was  born  at  Dover,  Tennessee,  November  18,  1824. 
He  worked  on  a  farm  to  obtain  means  to  study  law  and  was  licensed 
in  1846.  He  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  6th  Illinois  volunteers  in  the 
Mexican  War.  On  his  return,  he  resumed  the  practice  in  1849,  and 
in  1850,  was  elected  to  the  legislature  from  Marion  County.  He 
graduated  from  the  Kentucky  law  school  at  Louisville,  in  1852.  In 
i860  he  was  presidential  elector  on  the  Douglas  ticket  for  this  con- 
gressional district.  In  1861  he  became  colonel  of  the  48th  regiment 
Illinois  volunteers.  He  was  at  the  battles  of  Fort  Donelson  and 
Shiloh,  and  was  severely  wounded  in  the  latter  battle.  In  1862,  he 
was  defeated  for  congress  by  the  Hon.  William  J.  Allen,  and  the 
same  year  he  was  made  brigadier  general  in  the  Union  army.  He 
resumed  the  practice  of  the  law  at  Cairo  in  1864,  and  in  1865  was 
appointed  by  Governor  Oglesby,  adjutant  general  of  the  state.  He 
died  while  holding  that  oflfice  at  Springfield  in  November,  1868.  He 
was  the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Haynie,  Marshall  &  Gilbert  for 
a  while  before  his  removal  to  Springfield,  the  junior  member  having 
been  the  Hon.  William  B.  Gilbert,  who  has  been  somewhat  longer 
than  the  writer  a  member  of  the  Cairo  bar.  Most  of  the  above  facts 
regarding  General  Haynie  are  taken  from  the  "Historical  Encyclopedia 
of  Illinois." 

Judge   Mulkey  lived   many  years   in   Cairo   and   was  well   known, 


238 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

not  only  here  in  southern  Illinois,  but  all  over  the  state.  He  stood  very 
high  as  a  lawyer  and  jurist,  and  few  such  men  have  a  better  established 
reputation  with  the  bar  and  the  judges  of  our  courts  throughout  Illinois, 
Quite  a  full  biographical  sketch  of  Judge  Mulkey  is  found  in  volume 
eleven  of  the  publications  of  the  Illinois  Historical  Society,  now  in 
our  public  library  and  owned  by  a  number  of  our  citizens.  There 
was  more  of  politics  in  the  repeal  of  the  act  creating  the  court  of 
common  pleas  than  there  was  of  good  to  the  city.  It  may  be  here 
stated  that  many  real-estate  titles  in  the  city  are  based  on  judgments  of 
this  court. 

Alexander  M.  Jenkins. — I  have  delayed  speaking  of  Judge 
Alexander  M.  Jenkins,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  answers  to  my  letters 
to  a  number  of  persons  for  information  concerning  him,  but  for  some 
reason  the  letters  seem  to  have  been  neglected,  and  hence  the  appear- 
ance here  of  what  I  have  relating  to  this  somewhat  noted  man,  who  held 
our  circuit  court  here  during  the  years  1859-1863.  The  following  very 
brief  account  of  him  I  have  taken  from  the  "Historical  Encyclopedia 
of  Illinois" : 

Alexander  M.  Jenkins,  Lieutenant  Governor  (1834-36),  came  to  Illinois 
in  his  youth  and  located  in  Jackson  County,  being  for  a  time  a  resident  of 
Brownsville,  the  first  county  seat  of  Jackson  County,  where  he  was  engaged 
in  trade.  Later  he  studied  law  and  became  eminent  in  his  profession  in 
southern  Illinois.  In  1830,  Mr.  Jenkins  was  elected  representative  in  the 
seventh  general  assembly;  was  re-elected  in  1832,  serving  during  his  second  term 
as  speaker  of  the  house;  and  took  part  the  latter  year  in  the  Black  Hawk 
War  as  captain  of  a  company.  In  1834,  Mr.  Jenkins  was  elected  lieutenant 
governor  at  the  same  time  with  Governor  Duncan,  though  on  an  opposing 
ticket,  but  resigned,  in  1836,  to  become  President  of  the  first  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company,  which  was  chartered  that  year.  The  charter  of  the  road 
was  surrendered  in  1837,  when  the  state  had  in  contemplation  the  policy  of 
building  a  system  of  roads  at  its  own  expense.  For  a  time  he  was  Receiver 
of  Public  Moneys  in  the  Land  Oflice  at  Edwardsville,  and  in  1847,  was 
elected  to  the  State  Constitutional  Convention  of  that  year.  Other  positions 
held  by  him  include  that  of  Justice  of  the  circut  court  for  the  third  judicial 
circuit,  to  which  he  was  elected  in  1859,  and  re-elected  in  1861,  but  died  in 
office  February  13,  1864.  Mr.  Jenkins  was  the  uncle  of  General  John  A. 
Logan,  who  read  law  with  him  after  his  return  from  the  Mexican  War. 

I  may  here  say  that  it  has  been  stated  a  number  of  times  that 
Judge  Jenkins,  as  far  back  as  1832  or  1833,  when  in  our  state  legisla- 
ture, proposed  the  survey  of  a  line  for  a  railroad  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Ohio  River  to  Peru  on  the  Illinois  River.  I  have  tried  very  hard 
to  verifj^  this  statement  or  claim  but  have  been  unable  to  do  so.  It 
is  said  that  the  records  of  the  proceedings  of  the  legislature  of  that 
early  day  are  so  incomplete  or  so  lack  fullness  that  the  mere  absence  of 
anything  therein  relating  to  such  action  on  his  part  would  not  at  all 
justify  the  conclusion  that  no  such  action  had  been  taken. 

We  have  already  seen  how  Jenkins  and  Holbrook  were  associated 
together  in  1836  and  subsequent  years  in  efforts  to  build  a  cit>^  here 
and  an  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  We  know  very  little  of  their  mutual 
dealings  either  as  individuals  or  as  representatives  of  their  companies; 


.^  ^.  .x^/^^^. 


CAIRO  BANKS  239 


but  our  circuit  court  records  here  show  that  Joel  Manning,  as  assignee 
of  Jenkins,  on  the  15th  day  of  November,  1845,  sued  Darius  B.  Hol- 
broolc  on  a  promissory  note  under  seal  and  in  the  words  and  figures 
following : 

"Alton,  III,  May  26,  1837. 
For  value  received,  I  promise  to  pay  to  the  order  of  Alexander  M. 
Jenkins  the  sum  of  Twenty  Thousand  Dollars  in  three  years  from  date, 
at  the  Branch  of  the  State  Bank  of  Illinois  at  Alton. 
$20,000.  D.  B.  Holbrook   (Seal)" 

On  the  back  of  the  note  is  the  following:  "Received  city  of  N.  York 
June,  1839,  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  ($150)  on  the  within  note;" 
and  also  the  following  endorsement:  "For  value  received  of  him  I 
hereby  make  over  and  assign  and  transfer  the  within  note  to  Joel 
Manning,  May  20th,  1840.  A.  M.  Jenkins."  On  the  back  of  the 
summons  is  the  following  return:  "Served  by  reading  the  same  to 
D.  B.  Holbrook  on  the  23rd  day  of  November,  1845.  A.  W.  Ander- 
son, Sheriff,  Alex.,  111." 

Judgment  was  recovered  on  this  note  for  the  amount  due  thereon ; 
and  it  seems  there  was  also  a  foreclosure  suit  based  on  a  mortgage 
given  to  secure  the  note,  and  the  mortgaged  propertj^  sold  and  the 
proceeds  of  the  sale  credited  on  the  note.  This  entry  of  credit  con- 
sists of  four  or  five  lines  and  seems  to  be  in  the  handwriting  of  Col. 
S.  Staats  Taylor;  but  he  was  not  here  at  that  early  daj^,  and  the  entry 
seems  to  have  been  made  a  long  time  ago. 

When  the  writer  came  to  Cairo  many  years  ago  he  frequently  heard 
Judge  Jenkins  spoken  of  as  a  very  able  man.  The  Hon.  Monroe  C. 
Crawford,  of  Jonesboro,  I  am  sure,  would  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of 
Judge  Jenkins,  both  as  to  his  excellency  as  a  man  and  his  great  ability'  as 
a  judge. 

Besides  Judge  Jenkins,  there  were  a  number  of  other  men  of  strong 
character  who  were  associated  with  Jenkins,  Holbrook,  Breese,  Gilbert 
and  others,  of  whom  I  have  not  been  able  to  say  more  than  a  word. 
There  were  David  J.  Baker,  senior,  Thomas  Swanwick,  Anthony 
Olney,  Kenneth  McKenzie,  John  M.  Krum,  who  became  and  was  for  a 
long  time  a  very  prominent  lawyer  and  citizen  of  St.  Louis,  and  a 
number  of  others  whom  I  would  like  to  mention  more  or  less  fully. 
Joel  Manning,  above  mentioned,  was  long  a  resident  of  Brownsville, 
quite  a  celebrated  old  town  of  Jackson  County,  Illinois,  the  site  of 
which  is  now  in  a  cornfield.  Manning  was  secretary  of  the  Illinois 
&  Michigan  Canal  Board  and  was  in  public  life  many  years.  With 
reference  to  the  Holbrook-Jenkins  note  above  described,  we  may 
say  that  the  promoters  of  the  Cairo  of  1836  were  active  business  men 
and  took  hold  of  their  enterprise  wMth  great  energy;  and  it  is  no 
wonder  that  some  of  them  became  heavily  involved.  The  outlook 
was  so  bright  and  promising  that  they  ventured  quite  too  much  in 
many  cases. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

EXTRACTS    FROM    BOOKS,    PAMPHLETS    AND    LETTERS 

THERE  has  never  been,  in  all  probability,  a  time  since  the  year 
1750  when  there  was  not  a  small  settlement  of  some  kind  here, 
a  house  or  cabin  or  two  or  three  of  them  and  now  and  then 
more  of  them.  They  were  erected,  of  course,  on  timbers  high  enough 
to  be  above  the  spring  floods.  Trees  of  all  kinds  and  suitable  for  every 
purpose  were  near  by,  and  to  the  hardy  woodsmen  it  was  easy  enough 
to  construct  suitable  cabins  to  shelter  their  families  and  the  few 
strangers  who  called  at  the  point  on  their  voyages  up  and  down  the 
rivers.  There  were  no  doubt  small  cleared  patches  of  ground  where 
were  grown  a  few  vegetables  for  their  use;  and  it  is  not  quite  out 
of  the  question  to  suppose  that  some  of  them  threw  up  small  embank- 
ments to  protect  their  possessions  from  the  usual  high  water  which 
they  well  knew  must  be  expected  at  almost  any  time  in  the  early  part 
of  the  j^ear.  We  must  not  forget  that  in  those  very  early  days  there 
were  adventurers  enough,  considering  the  state  of  the  country.  We 
must  not  suppose  that  there  were  none  except  those  who  kept  accounts 
or  journals  of  their  travels.  For  every  one  who  kept  a  diary  or 
journal  and  preserved  it  for  the  use  of  himself  and  others,  there  were 
five  or  ten  who  scarcely  thought  of  posterity  or  how  they  might  hand 
their  names  down  to  coming  generations.  Even  some  of  the  voyagers 
of  high  degree  and  standing  seem  to  have  noted  very  few  of  the 
wonders  they  saw.  We  read  their  very  meager  accounts,  and  get  just 
enough  to  cause  us  to  want  more.  But  it  was  the  new  world  and 
everything  was  wild  and  strange,  and  there  were  few  and  slight  chances 
to  examine  carefully  and  write  fully  about  what  they  saw  or  heard 
in  the  ever  changing  scenes  the  rivers  afforded.  We  may  speak  of  a 
single  instance: 

General  Clark's  letter,  found  elsewhere,  of  September  23,  1778, 
tells  of  his  having  to  keep  an  armed  boat  at  the  point  to  watch  both 
the  English  and  the  Spanish.  His  men  were  no  doubt  encamped  on 
the  point,  and  near  by  them  were  very  probably  woodsmen,  hunters 
and  others,  although  Clark  said  the  ground  was  too  low  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  secure  and  permanent  fort. 

The  travelers  were  almost  alwaj^s  voyagers,  and  most  of  them  were 
upon  the  Ohio,  in  the  later  times.  The  river  reached  into  the  Alle- 
ganies  and  near  the  regions  of  settled  habitations.  The  landing  on  the 
Ohio  side  here  was  always  good.  There  was  no  trouble  with  low 
water  and  seldom  with  high  water,  except  for  a  month  or  two  in  the 
spring  time.     The  current  was  always  near  to  this  shore,  and  whatever 

240 


I 


EXTRACTS  FROM  BOOKS,  ETC. 241 

kind  of  boat  or  vessel  was  used,  it  naturally  came  closer  to  the  landing 
on  the  Ohio  side  bewteen  the  two  rivers.  The  little  cutting  of  the 
banks  here  has  always  been  on  our  side,  and  for  a  hundred  years  or 
more  none  at  all  has  been  known  on  the  Kentucky  shore  just  opposite 
our  city. 

Can  we  in  any  better  way  use  a  reasonable  number  of  pages  than 
by  giving  a  page  or  two  from  the  travelers  and  writers  who  passed 
along  the  rivers  as  well  before  as  after  there  was  a  settlement  here? 

From  Fortesque  Coming's  "Sketches  of  a  Tour  of  the  Western 
Country";  1807-1809. — Of  this  Englishman,  Thwaites  speaks  in  his 
preface  as  follows  in  "Early  Western  Travels,"  Vol.  IV,  pages  g-io:  "In 
plain  dispassionate  style  he  has  given  us  a  picture  of  American  life  in 
the  west,  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  that  for  clear-cut 
outlines  and  fidelity  of  representation  has  the  effect  of  a  series  of  photo- 
graphic representations.  In  this  consists  the  value  of  the  book  for 
students  of  American  history.  We  miss  entirely  those  evidences  of 
amused  tolerance  and  superficial  criticisms  that  characterize  so  many 
English  books  of  his  day,  recounting  travels  in  the  United  States — a 
state  of  mind  sometimes  developing  into  strong  prejudice  and  evident 
distaste,  which  has  made  Dickens'  'American  Notes'  a  caricature  of  con- 
ditions in  the  new  country." 

He  and  a  friend  left  Pittsburg  July  18,  1807,  in  a  "battau  or  flat 
bottomed  skiff,  twenty  feet  long,  very  light,  and  the  stern  sheets  roofted 
with  very  thin  boards,  high  enough  to  sit  under  with  ease  and  long 
enough  to  shelter  them  when  extended  on  the  benches  for  repose,  should 
they  be  benighted  occasionally  on  the  river,  with  a  side  curtain  of  tow 
cloth  as  a  screen  for  either  the  sun  or  the  night  air."  They  spent  many 
months  at  different  points  along  the  river  and  did  not  reach  this  part 
of  the  country  until  the  month  of  May,  1808.  The  following  is  from 
pages  226-278  of  Vol.  IV: 

"  May  22nd,  at  6.zy  break  we  gladly  cast  off,  and  at  a  mile  below 
Wilkinsonville,  turned  to  the  left  into  a  long  reach  in  a  S.  W.  and  S. 
direction,  where  in  nine  miles  farther,  the  river  gradually  narrows  to 
a  half  a  mile  wide,  and  the  current  is  one  fourth  stronger  than  above. 
Three  miles  lower  we  saw  a  cabin  and  small  clearing  on  the  right 
shore,  apparently  abandoned,  five  miles  below  which  we  landed  in  the 
skiff,  and  purchased  some  fowls,  eggs,  and  milk,  at  a  solitary  but 
pleasant  settlement  on  the  right  just  below  Cash  Island.  It  is  occupied 
by  one  Petit  with  his  family,  who  stopped  here  to  make  a  crop  or  two 
previous  to  his  descending  the  Mississippi,  according  to  his  intentions 
on  some  future  day. 

"Two  miles  and  a  half  from  hence,  we  left  Cash  River,  a  fine  har- 
bor for  boats,  about  thirtA^  yards  wide  at  its  mouth,  on  the  right,  and 
from  hence  we  had  a  pleasant  and  cheerful  view  down  the  river,  and 
a  S.  S.  E.  direction  five  miles  to  the  Mississippi. 

"  First  on  the  right  just  below  the  mouth  of  Cash  River,  M'Mullin's 


242 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

pleasant  settlement,  and  a  little  lower  a  cabin  occupied  by  a  tenant  who 
labored  for  him.  A  ship  at  anchor  close  to  the  right  shore,  three  miles 
lower  down,  enlivened  the  view,  which  was  closed  below  by  Colonel 
Bird's  flourishing  settlement  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Mississippi. 

"We  soon  passed  and  spoke  the  ship,  which  was  the  Rufus  King, 
Captain  Clarke,  receiving  a  cargo  of  tobacco,  &c.,  by  boats  down  the 
river  from  Kentucky,  and  intended  to  proceed  in  about  a  week,  on  a 
voyage  to  Baltimore.  It  was  now  a  year  since  she  was  built  at  Mari- 
etta, and  she  had  got  no  further  yet. 

"  At  noon  we  entered  the  Mississippi  flowing  from  east  above,  to 
east  by  south  below  the  conflux  of  the  Ohio,  which  differs  considerably 
from  its  general  course  of  from  north  to  south. 

"We  had  thought  the  water  very  turbid,  but  it  was  clear  in  com- 
parison of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  tw^o  rivers  being  distinctly  marked 
three  or  four  miles  after  their  junction.  The  Ohio  carried  us  out 
almost  into  the  middle  of  the  Mississippi,  so  that  I  was  almost  de- 
ceived into  thinking  that  the  latter  river  ran  to  the  west^vard  instead 
of  to  the  eastward ;  by  the  time,  however,  that  we  were  near  mid- 
channel  the  Mississippi  had  gained  the  ascendanq',  and  we  were  forced 
to  eastward  with  increased  velocity,  its  current  being  more  rapid  than 
that  of  the  Ohio.  We  soon  lost  sight  of  the  labyrinth  of  waters  formed 
by  the  conflux  of  the  two  rivers,  and  quickly  got  into  a  single  channel, 
assuming  gradually  its  usual  southerly  direction.  Wi  now  began  to 
look  for  Fort  Jefferson,  marked  in  Mr.  Cramer's  Navigator  as  just 
above  Mayfield  Creek  on  the  left,  but  not  seeing  either  we  supposed 
they  were  concealed  by  island  No,  i  acting  as  a  screen  to  them." 

In  the  "Recollections,  of  the  Last  Ten  Years  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Mississippi"  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Flint,  which  is  a  collection  of  let- 
ters by  the  author  to  the  Rev.  James  Flint,  we  find  in  letter  twelve,  pp. 
85  and  86,  the  following: 

"  The  28th  of  April,  1816,  we  came  in  sight  of  what  had  long  been 
the  subject  of  our  conversation,  our  inquiries  and  curiosity,  the  far- 
famed  Mississippi  .  .  .  turning  the  point,  and  your  eye  catches  the 
vast  Mississippi  rolling  down  her  mass  of  turbid  waters,  which  seem, 
compared  with  the  limpid  and  greenish  colored  waters  of  the  Ohio, 
to  be  almost  a  milky  whiteness.  ...  A  speculation  w^as  gotten  up 
to  form  a  great  city  at  the  Delta,  and  in  fact  they  raised  a  few  houses 
upon  piles  of  wood.  The  houses  were  inundated  and  when  we  were 
there,  '  they  kept  the  town,'  as  the  boatmen  phrase  it,  in  a  vast  flat 
boat,  a  hundred  feet  in  length,  in  which  there  were  families,  liquor 
shops,  drunken  men  and  women  and  all  the  miserable  appendages 
to  such  a  place.  To  render  the  solitude  of  the  pathless  forest  on  the 
opposite  shore  more  dismal,  there  is  one  gloomy  looking  house  there." 

Long's  Expedition  to  the  Rocky  Mountains;  1819. — This  expedition 
was  sent  out  by  the  Hon.  John  C.  Calhoun,  the  Secretan^  of  War  under 
President  Andrew  Jackson.     The  men  who  went  were  Major  S.   H. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  BOOKS,  ETC. 243 

Long,  of  the  United  States  Corps  of  Topographical  Engineers,  John 
Riddle  and  William  Baldwin,  both  of  Pennsylvania,  Thomas  Say, 
Augustus  E.  Jessup,  Titian  Ramsey  Beale,  James  D.  Graham,  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  William  H.  Swift,  of  Massachusetts.  They  were  well 
equipped  and  had  delayed  their  start  somewhat  for  better  preparation. 
In  this  respect,  they  were  in  better  condition  than  were  Lewis  and  Clark, 
fourteen  years  before.  Calhoun's  instructions  to  them  showed  he  had 
in  mind  the  honor  and  success  which  came  to  Jefferson  in  sending  out 
the  expedition  he  did  to  the  Oregon  coast. 

They  left  Pittsburg  on  the  steamboat  Western  Engineer,  May 
3,  1819,  and  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  River  the  afternoon  of 
May  30.  Edwin  James,  botanist  and  geologist  of  the  expedition, 
wrote  the  account  of  the  journey  and  of  the  work  accomplished,  and 
the  same  makes  four  volumes  of  Thwaites'  "Early  Western  Travels," 
beginning  with  Vol.  XIV, 

Major  Stephen  Harriman  Long,  whose  name  was  given  to  one  of 
the  high  peaks  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  Long's  Peak;  14,000  feet 
high,  was  the  father  of  Henry  C.  Long,  who  was  for  many  years  the 
chief  engineer  of  the  Cairo  City  Property  management  and  also  an 
engineer  here  for  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company.  He  pre- 
pared the  very  valuable  topographical  map  of  Cairo,  dated  July  2,  1850, 
which  shows  the  whole  face  of  the  point  as  it  existed  when  the  Hol- 
brook  people  turned  over  the  abandoned  city  to  the  Trustees  of  the 
Cairo  City  Froptrty.  This  was  almost  a  year  before  Col.  Samuel 
Staats  Taylor  came  here,  which  was  April  15,  185 1.  A  photograph 
copy  of  Long's  topographical  map,  made  from  the  original  now  on 
file  in  the  War  Department  at  Washington,  is  found  on  another  page. 

Major  S.  H.  Long  had  become  Col.  Long  before  the  year  1850, 
and  we  find  that  in  that  year  he  caused  a  very  full  and  complete  survey 
to  be  made  of  this  place  and  its  immediate  vicinit}^  The  work  was  done 
under  his  direction  and  supervision  but  by  his  son,  Henry  C.  Long,  who 
addressed  his  report  to  "Col.  Long,  U.  S.  Top'l  Engineer,  Supt.  Western 
R.  Improvements,  &c,  Louisville,  Kentucky."  The  report  is  dated 
at  Louisville,  September  2,  1850,  and  Col.  Long  submitted  the  same 
to  Messrs.  Davis  and  Taylor,  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  City 
of  New  York,  by  a  letter  dated  at  Louisville,  September  4,  1850.  A 
part  of  the  report  is  found  in  Chapter  VIII. 

James  describes  fully  their  journey  down  the  Ohio.  Nearly  every 
city,  town,  village  and  hamlet  comes  in  for  its  proper  share  of 
attention,  getting  just  about  what  every  one  would  suppose  it  ought 
to  have.     On  pages  84  and  85,  we  read  as  follows: 

"  On  the  30th,  we  arrived  at  a  point  a  little  above  the  mouth  of 
Cash  river,  where  a  town  has  been  laid  out,  called  America.  It  is  on 
the  north  bank  of  the  Ohio,  about  eleven  miles  from  the  Mississippi, 
and  occupies  the  first  heights  on  the  former,  secure  from  an  inunda- 
tion of  both  rivers,  (If  we  except  a  small  area  three  and  a  half  miles 
below,  where  there  are  three  Indian  mounds,  situated  on  a  tract  con- 
taining about  half  an  acre  above  high-water  mark.)     The  land  on  both 


244 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

sides  of  the  Ohio,  below  this  place,  is  subject  to  be  overflowed  to  va- 
rious depth,  from  six  to  fourteen  feet  in  time  of  floods ;  and  on  the 
south  side,  the  flat  lands  extend  four  or  five  miles  above.  The  aspect 
of  the  countrj',  in  and  about  the  town,  is  rolling  or  moderately  hilly, 
being  the  commencement  of  the  high  lands  between  the  two  rivers; 
but  below  it,  however,  the  land  is  flat,  having  the  character  of  the  low 
bottoms  of  the  Ohio.  The  growth  is  principally  cottonwood,  sycamore, 
walnut,  hickor}',  maple,  oak,  &c.  The  soil  is  first-rate,  and  well 
suited  to  cultivation.  Here  follows  quite  an  account  of  America  and 
the  adjacent  country,  in  which  it  is  said,  'This  position  may  be  con- 
sidered as  the  head  of  constant  navigation  for  the  Mississippi.')"  .  .  . 
"In  the  afternoon  of  the  30th  (May,  1819),  we  arrived  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohio  river. 

"  This  beautiful  river  has  a  course  of  one  thousand  and  thirty-three 
miles,  through  a  country  surpassed  in  fertilitj^  of  soil  by  none  in  the 
United  States.  Except  in  high  floods,  its  water  is  transparent,  its 
current  gentle  and  nearly  uniform.  For  more  than  half  of  its  course, 
its  banks  are  high  and  its  bed  gravelly, 

"The  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  is  in  latitude  37°  22' 
9"  north,  according  to  the  observations  of  Mr.  Ellicott,  and  in  longi- 
tude 88°  50'  42"  west,  from  Greenwich.  The  lands  about  the  junction 
of  these  two  great  rivers  are  low,  consisting  of  recent  alluvion,  and 
covered  with  dense  forests.  At  the  time  of  our  journey,  the  spring 
floods  having  subsided  in  the  Ohio,  this  quiet  and  gentle  river  seemed 
to  be  at  once  swallowed  up,  and  lost  in  the  rapid  and  turbulent  cur- 
rent of  the  Mississippi.  Floods  of  the  Mississippi,  happening  when 
the  Ohio  is  low,  occasion  a  reflux  of  the  waters  of  the  latter,  perceptible 
at  Fort  Massac,  more  than  thirty  miles  above.  It  is  also  asserted,  that 
the  floods  in  the  Ohio  occasion  a  retardation  in  the  current  of  the 
Mississippi,  as  far  up  as  the  Little  Chain,  ten  miles  below  Cape  Gir- 
ardeau. The  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  above  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio,  also  that  of  the  Ohio,  is  usually  obstructed  for  a  part  of  the  winter 
by  large  masses  of  floating  ice.  The  boatmen  observe  that  soon  after  the 
ice  from  the  Ohio  enters  the  Mississippi,  it  becomes  so  much  heavier  by 
arresting  the  sands,  always  mixed  with  the  waters  of  that  river,  that  it 
soon  sinks  to  the  bottom.  After  ascending  the  Mississippi  about  two  miles, 
we  came  to  an  anchor,  and  went  on  shore  on  the  eastern  side.  The 
forests  here  are  deep  and  gloomy,  swarming  with  innumerable  mosqui- 
toes, and  the  ground  overgrown  with  enormous  nettles.  There  is  no 
point  near  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  from  which  a 
distant  prospect  can  be  had.  Standing  in  view  of  the  junction  of  these 
magnificent  rivers,  meeting  almost  from  opposite  extremities  of  the 
continent,  and  each  impressed  with  the  peculiar  character  of  the  regions 
from  which  it  descends,  we  seem  to  imagine  ourselves  capable  of  com- 
prehending at  one  view  all  that  vast  region  between  the  summits  of  the 
Alleghanies  and  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  feel  a  degree  of  im- 
patience at  finding  all  our  prospects  limited  by  an  inconsiderable  extent 
of  low  muddy  bottom  lands,  and  the  unrelieved,  unvaried  gloom  of 
the  forest. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  BOOKS,  ETC. 245 

"  Finding  it  necessary  to  renew  the  packing  of  the  piston  in  the 
steam-engine,  which  operation  would  require  some  time,  most  of  the 
gentlemen  of  the  party  were  dispersed  on  shore  in  pursuit  of  their 
respective  objects,  or  engaged  in  hunting.  Deer,  turkeys,  and  beaver 
are  still  found  in  plenty  in  the  low  grounds,  along  both  sides  of  the 
Mississippi;  but  the  annoyance  of  the  mosquitoes  and  nettles  preventing 
the  necessary  caution  and  silence  in  approaching  the  haunts  of  these 
animals,  our  hunting  was  without  success. 

"  We  were  gratified  to  observe  many  interesting  plants,  and  among 
them  several  of  the  beautiful  family  of  the  orchidae,  particularly  the 
orchis  spectabile,  so  common  in  the  mountainous  parts  of  New  England. 

"  The  progress  of  our  boat  against  the  heavy  current  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, was  of  necessity  somewhat  slow.  Steam-boats  in  ascending  are 
kept  as  near  the  shore  as  the  depth  of  water  will  admit;  and  ours  often 
approached  so  closely  as  to  give  such  of  the  party  as  wished,  an  oppor- 
tunity to  jump  on  shore.  On  the  first  of  June,  several  gentlemen  of  the 
party  went  on  shore,  six  miles  below  the  settlement  of  Tyawapatia 
bottom,  and  walked  up  to  that  place  through  the  woods.  They  passed 
several  Indian  encampments,  which  appeared  to  have  been  recently 
tenanted.  Under  one  of  the  wigwams  they  saw  pieces  of  honeycomb, 
and  several  sharpened  sticks  that  had  been  used  to  roast  meat  upon ; 
on  a  small  tree  near  by  was  suspended  the  lower  jaw-bone  of  a  bear. 
Soon  after  leaving  these  they  came  to  another  similar  camp,  where  they 
found  a  Shawanee  Indian  and  his  squaw,  with  four  children,  the 
}'Oungest  lashed  to  a  piece  of  board,  and  leaned  against  a  tree. 

"  The  Indian  had  recently  killed  a  deer,  which  they  purchased  of 
him  for  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents — one-third  more  than  is  usually  paid 
to  white  hunters.  They  afterwards  met  with  another  encampment, 
where  were  several  families.  These  Indians  have  very  little  acquaint- 
ance with  the  English  language,  and  appeared  reluctant  to  use  the  few 
words  they  knew.  The  squaws  wore  great  numbers  of  trinkets,  such 
as  silver  arm-bands  and  large  ear-rings.  Some  of  the  boys  had  pieces 
of  lead  tied  in  various  parts  of  the  hair.  They  were  encamped  near 
the  Mississippi,  for  the  purpose  of  hunting  on  the  islands.  Their 
village  is  on  Apple  Creek,  ten  miles  from  Cape  Girardeau. 

"  June  2d.  As  it  was  only  ten  miles  to  Cape  Girardeau,  and  the 
progress  of  the  boat  extremely  tedious,  several  of  the  party,  taking  a 
small  supply  of  provisions,  went  on  shore,  intending  to  walk  to  that 
place. 

"About  the  settlement  of  Tyawapatia,  and  near  Cape  a  la  B ruche, 
is  a  ledge  of  rocks,  stretching  across  the  Mississippi,  in  a  direct  line, 
and  in  low  water  forming  a  serious  obstacle  to  the  navigation.  These 
rocks  are  of  limestone,  and  mark  the  commencement  of  the  hilly 
country  on  the  Mississippi.  Here  the  landscape  begins  to  have  some- 
thing of  the  charm  of  distant  perspective.  We  seem  released  from  the 
imprisonment  of  the  deep  monotonous  forest,  and  can  occasionally  over- 
look the  broad  hills  of  Apple  Creek,  and  the  Au  Vaise,  or  Muddy  river 
of  Illinois,  diversified  with  a  few  scattered  plantations,  and  some  small 
natural  meadows. 


2+6 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

"About  five  miles  above  Cape  Girardeau  we  found  the  steam-boat 
Jefferson,  destined  for  the  Missouri.  She  had  been  detained  some 
time  waiting  for  castings  which  were  on  board  the  Western  Engineer. 
Several  other  steam-boats,  with  stores  for  the  troops  about  to  ascend 
the  Missouri,  had  entered  that  river,  and  were  waiting  to  be  overtaken 
by  the  Jefferson  and  the  Calhoun,  which  last  we  had  left  at  the  rapids 
of  the  Ohio.  On  the  3d  of  June  we  passed  that  insular  rock  in  the 
middle  of  the  Mississippi,  called  the  Grand  Tower.  It  is  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  in  diameter. 
Between  it  and  the  right  shore  is  a  channel  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  in  width,  with  a  deep  and  rapid  current." 

"  The  Grand  Tower,  from  its  form  and  situation,  strongly  sug- 
gests the  idea  of  a  work  of  art.  It  is  not  impossible  that  a  bridge  may 
be  constructed  here,  for  which  this  rock  shall  serve  as  a  pier.  The 
shores,  on  both  sides,  are  of  substantial  and  permanent  rocks,  which 
undoubtedly  extend  across,  forming  the  bed  of  the  river.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  the  ledge  of  rocks  called  the  Two  Chains,  extending 
down  to  Cape  a  la  Bruche,  presents  greater  facilities  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  bridge  than  this  point,  as  the  high  lands  there  approach  nearer 
the  river,  and  are  less  broken  than  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Grand 
Tower.  The  Ohio  would  also  admit  of  a  bridge  at  the  Chains,  which 
appear  to  be  a  continuation  of  the  range  of  rocks  here  mentioned, 
crossing  that  river  fifteen  miles  above  its  confluence  with  the  Missis- 
sippi. We  look  forward  to  the  time  when  these  great  works  will  be 
completed." 

Alexander  Phillip  Maximilian,  prince  of  Wied-Neuwiedj  made  a 
journey  down  the  Ohio  from  Pittsburg  in  the  years  1831  and  1832. 
The  following  is  what  he  says  of  his  trip  from  Smithland  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Cumberland  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  which  he  reached  March 
20,  1832.  (Thwaites'  "Early  Western  Travels,"  Vol.  XXII,  pp.  200- 
204.) 

"  At  this  place  the  Paragon  took  in  wood  and  provisions.  Not  far 
from  Smithland  is  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee  River,  which  is  said 
to  be  more  considerable  than  the  Cumberland,  and  to  have  a  course  of 
1,200  miles.  The  little  village,  Paduca,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Ohio, 
appeared  to  have  much  traflSc,  and  a  number  of  new  shops  had  been 
built.  The  Western  Pilot  of  the  year  1829  does  not  mention  this 
place — a  proof  of  its  recent  origin.  From  hence  we  came  to  the  spot 
where  Fort  Massac  formerly  stood,  stones  of  which  are  still  found. 
We  lay  to  some  hundred  paces  below  to  take  in  wood,  of  which  our 
vessel  consumed  twelve  cords  daily.  The  grass  on  the  banks  was  al- 
ready of  a  bright  green  colour,  and  a  race  of  large,  long-legged  sheep 
were  grazing  on  it.     We  lay  to  for  the  night. 

"  Early  in  the  morning  of  the  20th  of  March  we  approached  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio,  where  it  falls  into  the  Mississippi,  959  miles  from 
Pittsburg,  and  129  3-4  miles  from  St.  Louis.     The  tongue  of  land  on 


EXTRACTS  FORM  BOOKS,  ETC. 247 

the  right,  which  separates  the  two  rivers,  was,  like  the  whole  of  the 
country,  covered  with  rich  woods,  which  were  partly  cleared,  and  a 
few  houses  erected,  with  an  inn  and  store,  and  the  dwelling  of  a  planter, 
where  we  took  in  wood.  In  this  store  we  saw,  among  heaps  of  skins, 
that  of  a  black  bear,  lately  killed,  of  which  one  of  the  three  cubs,  a 
very  comical  little  beast,  had  been  kept  alive.  This  young  bear  had  on 
his  breast  a  semicircle  of  white  hair.  The  settlement,  at  which  we 
were  now,  has  no  other  name  than  Mouth  of  the  Ohio.  We  now 
entered  the  Mississippi,  and  ascended  it,  keeping  to  the  left  or  eastern 
bank." 

The  following  is  from  the  diary  of  Mr.  Caleb  B.  Crumb,  fur- 
nished me  by  his  son,  Mr.  D.  S.  Crumb,  of  St.  Louis,  through  Mr. 
Robert  P.  Bates,  of  Chicago.  It  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  papers 
to  be  found  an)avhere  relating  to  the  early  historj^  of  this  locality.  In 
a  letter  of  October  15,  1909,  to  Mr.  Bates,  accompanying  the  extract, 
Mr.  Crumb  says  of  his  father,  "  That  on  the  trip  spoken  of,  he  met, 
by  accident,  a  Mr.  Sanford,  the  recorder  of  deeds  and  the  clerk  of  the 
Circuit  Court  at  Jackson,  the  county  seat  of  Cape  Girardeau  County, 
Missouri,  who  became  interested  in  the  young  fellow,  evidently  in 
rather  rough  company  on  the  raft,  and  offered  him,  off  hand,  a  position 
in  his  office,  and  that  on  his  return  up  the  river  he  stopped  over  and 
did  some  work  in  his  office,  and  that  he  then  returned  home,  but  that 
twent}^-two  years  later,  after  some  reverses  at  Morris  and  Chicago,  he 
went  to  Jackson  on  the  invitation  of  Mr.  Sanford;  and  from  that  time 
dates  the  establishment  of  the  Crumb  family  in  Missouri." 

"  Mouth  of  the  Ohio  River,  May  29,  1836. 

"I  am  a  raftsman  now  and  can  much  more  skillfully  wield  the  oar 
than  the  pen.  At  this  time  I  ardently  desire  language  to  suitably  de- 
scribe this  neglected  place,  which  evidently  awaits  a  high  destiny. 

"  While  I  stand  in  this  southwest  corner  of  the  State  of  Illinois  on  a 
beautiful  point  of  land  commanding  a  full  view  of  the  majestic  '  Father 
of  Waters  '  on  the  right  and  the  limpid  Ohio  on  the  left,  I  seem  to 
see  in  the  place  of  the  two  houses  which  at  present  constitute  this 
un-named  village,  a  noble  and  flourishing  city,  containing  thousands 
of  inhabitants,  enjoying  the  unparalleled  advantages  of  an  unbounded 
expanse  of  fertile  country  around  it  and  a  water  communication  alike 
uninterrupted  by  the  parching  heat  of  summer  or  the  fettering  cold 
of  winter.  I  confidently  believe  that  this  almost  desert  point  of  land  is 
susceptible  of  greater  improvement  than  any  other  equal  portion  of  land 
in  America. 

"  Mr.  Bird's  is  the  only  family  residing  here  at  present.  The  Union 
Hotel  is  a  fine  building  as  also  the  store  which  is  set  up  about  ten 
feet  above  the  ground  on  wooden  piles.     Both  buildings  are  of  wood." 

From  "Eight  Months  in  Illinois''  by  William  Oliver,  Neiucastle 
upon  Tyne,  1843: 


248 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

"  Before  arriving  at  the  mouth,  we  looked  out  anxiously  for  the 
Father  of  Waters;  but  could  not,  even  after  we  were  told  he  was  in 
sight,  distinguish  him,  until  we  came  very  near,  and  then  it  was  more 
from  the  quantity  of  ice  floating  on  his  surface  than  from  any  local 
feature,  that  we  became  aware  of  his  presence.  This  results  from  the 
Ohio  gradually  bending,  particularly  on  the  left  shore,  in  the  direction 
of  the  course  of  the  Mississippi.  One  might  readilj'-  suppose  it  only  a 
bend  in  the  river.  The  place  of  junction  has  the  appearance  of  a  large 
lake;  and  from  the  landing-place,  at  Bird's  Point  (Cairo),  there  is  a 
view  of  seven  or  eight  miles  down  the  Mississippi,  and  of  nearly  as 
much  up  the  Ohio.  The  Mississippi  is  here  one  mile  and  the  Ohio 
one  mile  and  three  quarters,  wide. 

"  As  the  boat  was  bound  for  New  Orleans,  and  I  intended  to  ascend 
the  Mississippi,  I  was  set  ashore  to  wait  for  some  boat  which  should 
pass  for  St.  Louis.  The  appearance  of  the  rivers  was  grand,  but  the  ad- 
juncts were  anything  but  agreeable.  The  place  had  a  bad  name,  and 
certainly  did  not  seem  very  captivating  or  safe,  from  the  number  of 
idle,  vagabond-looking  boatmen  who  were  strolling  about  its  desolate 
shores.  These  were  some  of  the  crews  of  a  great  number  of  flat  boats 
or  scows,  which  lined  the  shores  of  the  Ohio,  and  who  durst  not,  with 
such  unwieldy  things,  venture  into  the  ice  on  the  Mississippi.  For- 
tunately, there  were  five  of  us  travelling  the  same  route,  and  as  we 
had  become  in  some  measure  acquainted  during  our  voyage  down  the 
Ohio,  we  felt  the  more  confident.  Whilst  one  watched  the  luggage, 
the  rest  went  about  to  see  if  they  could  procure  accommodation  at  any 
place  besides  the  inn,  as  it  had  anything  but  a  good  character.  We 
might  have  saved  ourselves  the  trouble,  however,  as  there  was  no  other 
dwelling,  except  a  log  hut,  full  of  the  choppers  of  wood  for  the  steam- 
ers. We  walked  about  the  bank  till  near  dark,  in  the  expectation  of  a 
boat  for  St.  Louis,  or  some  other  town  up  the  Mississippi ;  but  night 
approached  without  any  boat  appearing,  and  we  reluctantly  had  our 
things  carried  to  the  house,  which  aspired  to  the  distinction  of  hotel. 
Two  of  our  part5%  however,  foiind  one  of  the  owners  of  a  Hat  boat 
whom  they  knew,  and  got  themselves  huddled  into  his  boat,  amongst  a 
cargo  of  horses,  fowls,  Yankee  bedposts,  &c.  I  looked  down  into  their 
den,  and  how  they  contrived  to  stow  themselves  away  at  night  along 
with  four  or  five  people  belonging  to  the  boat,  I  do  not  pretend  to 
guess.  On  going  into  the  bar-room  of  the  inn,  I  was  somewhat  sur- 
prised to  find  it  very  much  like  the  bars  of  other  inns;  there  were,  to 
be  sure,  two  or  three  strange  outlandish-looking  gentry  sitting  around 
the  stove;  but  such  visions  are  verj'  frequently  met  with  in  all  the 
taverns  and  boats  on  those  rivers. 

"The  prospect  had  now  become  rather  drearj\  The  ice  on 
the  Mississippi  was  so  dense,  that  it  was  very  doubtful  if  any 
boat  would  venture  into  it;  it  was  certain  that  no  boat,  except  one  of 
the  strongest  and  most  powerful,  would  make  the  attempt,  and  equally 
certain  that  there  would  be  some  danger  and  risk  of  losing  the  boat. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  BOOKS,  ETC. 249 

There  was  no  road  from  the  point  in  any  direction;  no  such  thing 
dreamed  of  as  a  stage,  nor  so  much  as  a  wagon  for  love  or  money. 
Taking  it  on  foot,  with  the  chance  of  bivouacking  in  the  woods  for  two 
or  three  nights,  was  the  only  chance  of  getting  away.  To  be  sure,  the 
landlord  had  a  horse,  which  he  very  politely  offered  us  for  three  times 
its  value,  but  when  he  'obnoxiously  made  his  approaches,'  we  declined 
the  proffered  favour. 

"All  went  on  very  well  till  a  short  time  after  supper,  when,  as 
we  were  sitting  in  the  bar-room,  two  men,  Kentucks,  came  in;  one  of 
them  desiring  to  write  a  letter,  the  other,  as  ugly  a  looking  fellow  as 
I  ever  saw,  standing  by.  The  scribe  had  scarcely  commenced,  when 
the  landlord  went  up  to  him,  and  enquired  if  he  was  not  the  person 
who  had  lately  insulted  him  at  the  wood-yard.  The  Kentuck  denied 
that  he  had  done  anything  to  insult  him.  '  Do  you  not  reckon  it  an 
insult,  sir,'  said  the  landlord,  a  tall,  thin  fellow,  with  an  agueish  look, 
and  a  dreadful  cough,  *  to  moor  your  flat  boat  at  my  wood-yard,  where 
you  have  no  right  to  bring  it,  and  when  I  merely  mentioned  it  to  you, 
and  cautioned  you  that  j-ou  might  get  your  boat  staved  by  some  of  the 
steamers  which  came  to  the  yard  for  firewood,  do  3^ou  call  it  no  insult 
to  threaten  to  put  a  bullet  through  me?  If  it  had  not  been  that  I  was 
alone,  sir,  I  would  have  pitched  you  into  the  river.'  '  Well,  sir — now, 
sir,'  edged  in  the  little  Kentuck,  '  hear  me,  sir,  will  you,  sir,  give  us  the 
usage  of  a  gentleman,  sir — speak  to  us  as  one  gentleman  ought  to 
speak  to  another,  sir.'  'Yes,  sir,  treat  us  like  gentlemen,  sir — treat  us 
genteelly,  &c.,  &c.,'  said  the  tall,  ugly  Kentuck.  After  an  immense 
deal  of  palaver,  and  the  most  horrible  swearing  on  both  sides,  for  about 
a  quarter  of  an  hour,  the  writer  tore  his  letter  to  pieces,  saying  he 
found  this  was  no  place  for  gentlemen,  that  he  would  disdain  to  stay 
in  it  any  longer,  and  that  he  would  report  the  landlord's  behaviour, 
and  do  all  in  his  power  to  injure  his  custom.  The  brawl  had  now 
come  to  such  a  height,  and  there  was  so  much  gesticulation,  that  I 
looked  everj"^  moment  for  the  long  knives,  which  are  very  generally 
carried,  and  had  serious  apprehensions  that  the  fray  would  end  in 
bloodshed.  The  Kentucks  had  been  gradually  retreating  towards  the 
door,  on  attaining  which,  they  said  somewhat  I  did  not  hear,  but  which 
so  enraged  our  landlord  that  he  rushed  after  them  in  the  dark,  and  such 
a  shrieking  and  shouting  arose,  that  I  thought  some  of  them  had  got 
stabbed,  particularly  when  one  cried  murder.  There  had  been  no 
harm  done,  however,  but  the  affair  did  not  look  much  better  when  the 
landlord  came  into  the  bar-room,  took  up  his  rifle  and  carefully  exam- 
ined the  priming,  and  the  bar-keeper  and  he  began  hastily  to  load  two 
or  three  other  guns  and  some  pistols.  The  Kentucks,  having  been 
joined  by  their  companions  at  the  boat,  now  commenced  shouting  and 
firing  guns  in  bravado,  to  see,  as  I  understood,  if  they  could  induce 
their  opponents  to  com.e  out  and  have  a  regular  battle;  our  landlord, 
however,  merely  went  to  the  door  and  fired  off  a  pistol,  to  let  them 
know  that  he  was  prepared  for  them.  Nothing  more  took  place,  and 
in  a'  short  time  all  was  quiet. 


250 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

"  Next  morning  (it  was  Sunday)  when  1  awoke,  the  sun  was  just 
rising  over  the  forest  of  Kentucky,  and  through  two  windows  on  op- 
posite sides  of  the  room  I  could  lie  in  my  bed  and  look  out  on  the  two 
mighty  rivers,  the  Ohio  glittering  in  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  studded 
with  immense  quantities  of  driftwood,  and  the  Father  of  Waters  cov- 
ered with  an  almost  entire  mass  of  ice,  moving  steadily  along  with  a 
sort  of  mysterious  hurtling  noise,  the  dense,  dark  forest  lining  the  dis- 
tant shore  of  each.  There  was  the  stillness  of  death,  save  that  sound 
proceeding  from  the  ice-clad  river,  and  now  and  then  the  report  of  a 
gun,  rolling  on  till  lost  in  the  woods. 

"  The  boatmen  of  the  numerous  flat  boats  were  mostly  provided 
with  guns,  and  shot  ducks  on  the  river,  or  went  to  the  woods  to  shoot 
deer,  which  were  in  great  abundance,  particularly  on  the  Kentucky 
side  of  the  Ohio.  After  breakfast,  the  whole  forest  far  and  near 
seemed  to  be  alive  with  men,  cracking  and  shooting  in  all  directions ;  its 
being  Sunday,  not  seeming  to  influence  in  the  slightest  degree  these 
almost  lawless  denizens  of  the  western  wilderness. 

"There  was,  on  this  day,  an  occurrence  at  Bird's  Point  (Cairo),  which 
I  was  inclined  to  suspect  would  not  be  frequent.  A  priest,  of  what  per- 
suasion I  know  not,  happened  to  be  amongst  us,  who,  having  intimated 
a  desire  to  preach,  was  permitted  by  the  landlord  to  occupy  a  room  in 
the  hotel.  A  considerable  number,  I  think  about  thirty,  attended,  and 
it  was  strange  to  look  round  on  the  rough,  weather  beaten,  and,  in 
some  instances,  savage-looking  faces  of  the  hearers.  The  preacher  de- 
livered a  very  appropriate  and  sensible  discourse. 

"  Another  day  passed  in  tedious  expectation.  The  frost  having  be- 
come less  intense,  and  the  influence  of  the  sun  being  very  considerable, 
so  much  so,  indeed,  that  some  of  the  people  walked  about  through  the  day 
with  their  coats  off,  the  ice  had  grown  somewhat  thinner.  It  takes  a 
severe  frost  to  preserve  the  ice  from  being  thawed  before  it  reaches  this 
latitude,  37°  north.  This  day  two  boats  came  down  the  Mississippi 
from  St.  Louis,  and  their  report  of  the  diflSculty  and  danger  of  coming 
down  made  our  case  almost  hopeless.  The  boats  had  come  in  company 
all  the  way,  the  one  in  the  wake  of  the  other,  and  that  which  had 
sailed  foremost  had  not  a  board  left  on  her  paddle  wheels.  When 
there  was  such  difficulty  in  getting  down,  it  may  easily  be  conceived 
that  there  would  be  still  greater  difficult}^  in  ascending  against  a  current 
of  five  or  six  miles  an  hour. 

"  A  boat  came  up  the  river  from  New  Orleans,  for  Cincinnati, 
whose  report  rather  revived  us  again,  as  she  had  been  able,  though  with 
considerable  difficulty,  to  make  way  against  the  ice,  which,  however, 
was  thinner  below  than  above  the  junction  of  the  rivers.  There  was 
no  ice  on  the  Ohio.  This  boat  told  us  of  one  which  we  might  expect 
in  a  few  hours,  on  her  way  to  St.  Louis;  but  night  came  and  no  boat. 
"  This  must  be  a  very  unhealthy  place,  as  it  lies  so  low,  that  when 
the  Mississippi  rises  in  June,  from  the  melting  of  the  snow  on  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  it  overflows  almost  everj^  foot  of  land,  all  around 
far  into  the  forest,  and  on  the  Mississippi,   at  frequent  intervals,   for 


EXTRACTS  FROM  BOOKS,  ETC. 251 

about  30  miles  up  the  river.  The  inn  is  set  upon  posts  of  seven  or 
eight  feet  high,  and  is  placed  on  the  highest  point  of  ground  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  a  sort  of  gangway,  also  raised  on  posts,  and  cross 
logs,  connects  the  house  and  store,  at  which  is  the  landing  place  for 
passengers  and  goods,  when  the  water  is  high.  The  landing  is  on  the 
Ohio,  the  Mississippi  being  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  inn. 

"  To  those  who  do  not  know  the  locality,  it  may  appear  singular 
that  there  is  no  town  on  this  point — a  fact,  however,  of  itself  sufficient 
to  indicate  the  impracticability  of  such  an  undertaking.  No  doubt  a 
town  might  be  built,  but  the  whole  point  is  composed  of  an  alluvion 
so  very  friable,  that  if  the  Mississippi,  in  one  of  his  ordinary  freaks,  were 
to  change  his  course,  the  whole  affair  might  be  swept  away  in  a  few 
days.  Some  may  think  of  embankments,  but  that  is  a  dream,  the  baseless 
fabric  of  a  vision.  For  a  long  way  up  the  river  there  is  no  shore,  but  a 
perpendicular  mud  bank,  which  is  constantly  being  undermined  and 
tumbled  into  the  river;  besides,  the  whole  point  is  liable  to  periodical 
inundation. 

"  On  the  afternoon  of  next  day  (Christmas)  the  long-looked-for 
boat  arrived,  and  we  were  gratified  to  hear  her  captain  say  he  was 
determined  to  proceed.  So  much  time,  however,  was  put  off  in  fixing 
some  trees  to  the  bows  of  the  boat,  to  ward  off  the  ice,  that  night  ap- 
proached, and  the  captain  thought  proper  not  to  venture  into  the  ice 
till  next  morning. 

"  Early  next  morning  we  started.  A  considerable  number  of  people 
had  collected  on  the  extreme  point  to  witness  the  attempt.  It  certainly 
was  with  some  anxiety  that  we  saw  the  bows  of  the  boat  enter  the  ice, 
and  the  shaking  and  agitation  caused  by  the  striking  of  the  paddles  on 
the  large  pieces,  were  very  considerable;  we  found,  however,  that  the 
boat  could  make  way,  though  slowly,  and  in  a  short  time  nobody 
seemed  to  care  much  about  it." 

In  January,  1849,  Col.  Henry  L.  Webb,  of  Trinity,  at  the  mouth 
of  Cache  River,  or  possibly  at  that  time  of  Cairo,  was  making  up  a 
company  for  a  trip  to  California  by  way  of  New  Orleans,  Brownsville, 
Mexico  and  Arizona,  and  John  Woodhouse  Audubon,  a  son  of  John 
James  Audubon,  the  great  ornithologist,  arranged  to  join  Col.  Webb 
with  a  large  number  of  men  and  to  proceed  from  Cairo  on  their 
journey.  They  came  down  the  Ohio  from  Pittsburg  and  reached 
Cairo  about  February  12th,  and  New  Orleans  February  i8th.  He 
speaks  of  Col.  Webb  and  his  wife  and  son,  the  latter  of  whom  was 
H.  Watson  Webb,  we  suppose.  Here  is  an  account  of  his  arrival  and 
short  stay  at  Cairo: 

"Large  flocks  of  geese  and  ducks  were  seen  by  us  as  we  made  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio,  and  the  numbers  increased  about  Cairo.  The  ice 
in  the  Mississippi  was  running  so  thick  that  the  'J.  Q.  Adams'  returned 
after  a  fruitless  effort  to  ascend  the  river.  All  Cairo  was  under  water, 
the  wharf  boat  we  were  put  on,  an  old  steamer,  could  only  accommodate 
thirty-five  of  our  party,   so   that   the  other   thirty  had   to  be   sent  to 


252  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

another  boat  of  the  same  class;  the  weather  was  extremely  cold,  with 
squalls  of  snow  from  the  north  with  a  keen  wind.  There  was  no  plank 
from  our  boat  to  the  levee  of  Cairo,  the  only  part  of  the  city  out  of 
water.  Will  it  be  wondered  at  that  a  slight  depression  of  spirits 
should  for  an  instant  assail  me?  But  when  a  man  has  said  he  will  do 
a  thing  it  must  be  done  if  life  permits,  and  in  an  hour  we  found  our- 
selves by  a  red  hot  stove,  the  men  provided  with  good  berths  for  the 
place,  cheerfulness  restored,  and  after  an  hour's  chat,  while  listening 
to  the  ever  increasing  gale  outside,  we  parted  for  the  night  to  wake 
cold,  but  with  good  appetities  even  for  the  horrible  fare  we  had,  and 
as  young  Kearney  Rodgers  said,  as  we  looked  at  the  continents  of 
coffee  stains,  and  islands  of  grease  here  and  there,  with  lumps  of  tallow 
and  peaks  of  frozen  butter  on  our  once  white  table  cloth,  '  Is  it  not 
wonderful  what  hunger  will  bring  us  to?' 

"  Here  we  found  Col.  Webb  with  his  wife  and  son.  I  was  much 
pleased  with  the  dignified  and  ladylike  appearance  of  Mrs.  Webb; 
once  she  had  been  very  beautiful,  now  she  was  greatly  worn,  and  had 
a  melancholy  expression,  under  the  circumstances  more  appropriate  than 
any  other,  for  her  husband  and  only  son  were  about  to  leave  her  for 
certainly  eighteen  months,  and  perhaps  she  was  parting  with  them 
for  the  last  time.  We  chatted  together  in  rather  a  forced  conversation, 
until  the  *  General  Scott '  for  New  Orleans  came  by,  and  then  went 
on  board,  paying  eight  dollars  for  each  man  and  five  dollars  each  for 
Col.  Webb's  three  horses.  So  much  for  Cairo;  I  don't  care  ever  to 
see  it  again." 

The  flood  of  which  Audubon  here  speaks  was  the  same  one  written 
about  by  Editor  Sanders  in  his  "Cairo  Delta,"  of  March  20,  1849.  It 
was  the  same  flood  that  broke  through  the  Mississippi  levees,  the  crev- 
asse in  which  is  seen  on  the  large  map  of  July,  1850. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Arthur  Cunynvhame,  in  his  "Glimpse  of  the 
Great  Western  Republic,"  London,  1851,  says,  on  pp.  2  and  3: 

"  My  absence  from  Montreal  was  to  be  seven  weeks,  and  I  pro- 
posed, in  the  first  instance,  to  travel  about  a  thousand  miles  west,  and 
to  strike  the  Mississippi  well  to  the  northward,  in  the  State  of  Iowa, 
to  enjoy  a  few  days'  grouse  shooting;  thence  to  travel  about  fifteen 
hundred  miles  down  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans,  visiting  any 
places  worthy  of  attention  on  the  way;  passing  through  the  Southern 
States,  to  Savannah,  Charleston,  and  returning  to  Montreal  through 
the  most  flourishing  cities  of  the  Union — Washington,  Baltimore, 
Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Boston. 

"  On  the  evening  of  the  26th,  (October,  1850)  we  at  length  arrived 
at  Cairo.  Here  I  found  several  steamboats,  bound  both  up  and  down  the 
river,  waiting  for  cargo,  and  for  passengers.  I  was  particularly  struck 
with  the  neat  and  cleanly  appearance  of  the  'Lexington,'  and  as  she  was 
advertised  to  sail  on  the  following  day  for  New  Orleans,  and  her  draught 
of  water  was  considerably  less  than  that  of  the  'Atlantic,'  of  which  I  was 


EXTRACTS  FROM  BOOKS,  ETC. 253 

by  this  time  heartily  tired,  I  determined  to  engage  a  berth  on  board 
her.  The  owner  of  the  '  Atlantic  '  was  exceedingly  unwilling  that  I 
should  do  so,  assuring  me  that  the  '  Lexington  '  would  not  leave  Cairo 
for  some  days,  whereas  the  clerk  of  that  vessel  stated  that  she  would 
certainly  depart  the  following  morning.  Amongst  all  these  contradic- 
tory assertions  I  was  somewhat  puzzled,  but  determined  to  abandon 
the  'Altantic';  I  therefore  sacrificed  a  few  dollars,  and  obtained  an 
exceedingly  good  stateroom  in  my  new  boat. 

"  The  site  of  the  town  of  Cairo  was  purchased  many  years  since 
by  an  English  company,  of  which,  I  understand,  the  Rothschilds  were 
to  be  the  principal  shareholders.  Geographically  speaking,  there  is  perhaps 
no  position  in  the  whole  of  the  United  States  which  would  promise  better 
for  the  site  of  a  large  city  than  that  of  Cairo.  It  is  situated  at  the 
fork  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi.  The  navigation  for  large  boats  dur- 
ing a  low  state  of  water  commences  here.  The  mid-winter  navigation 
when  the  upper  waters  of  both  these  rivers  are  choked  with  ice,  is 
free  to  this  point;  from  its  position,  it  would  naturally  be  the  spot 
where  the  great  railroads  from  north  to  south  of  the  western  parts  of 
the  United  States  would  traverse.  These  advantages  have,  however, 
been  as  yet  paralj^zed  by  the  fearful  floods  which  annually  lay  all  this 
country  under  water,  frequently  rising  much  above  an  embankment, 
here  called  a  'levee,'  which  some  years  since  has  been  thro\\Ti  around 
the  site  of  the  intended  cit3^  The  enterprise  of  the  west,  however, 
has  now  grown  to  such  a  pitch,  as  to  overcome  all  natural  obstacles 
where  any  chance  of  gain  exists;  and  this  winter  the  whole  site  of 
Cairo  city  is  to  be  placed  in  the  market,  the  company  having  deter- 
mined, as  an  inducement  to  purchasers,  to  build  a  dike  around  it  that 
will  bid  defiance  even  to  this  mighty  stream.  No  doubt,  on  the  sub- 
siding of  the  waters,  that  is,  during  the  summer,  an  unhealthy  miasma 
will  invade  its  precincts.  Yet  this  will  not  deter  thousands  from  occu- 
pying this  position,  nor  will  there  be  any  want  of  persons  to  supply 
the  places  of  those  who  may  succumb  to  its  effects;  for  a  species  of 
Californian  yellow  fever,  which  rages  in  parts  of  the  United  States, 
never  abates  in  consequence  of  the  innovations  of  any  other;  and  thus 
Cairo,  though  now  insignificant,  may  in  a  few  years  excel,  both  in 
wealth  and  in  size,  as  it  speedily  will  in  intelligence,  its  older  namesake, 
Cairo  on  the  Nile,  whose  propensities  to  overflow  her  banks  are  the  same 
as  the  Mississippi.  Another  cause,  I  was  informed,  which  has  retarded 
Cairo,  was  that  the  company,  following  the  English  custom,  declined 
to  sell  the  lots,  and  were  only  willing  to  let  them  on  long  leases. 
When  so  much  land  and  city  lots  are  in  the  market,  property  under 
these  restrictions  will  rarely  attract  purchasers;  but  now  that  they  are 
to  be  for  bona  fide  sale,  no  doubt  they  will  find  purchasers." 

From  "  Guide  Americain,"  by  Jules  Rouby,  Paris,  i8^g. — There  is 
some  error  in  the  date,  but  the  reference  is  to  the  Halliday  Hotel.  The 
Illinois  Central,  however,  was  completed  about  three  or  four  years  before 
the  hotel.    The  translation  is  sufficiently  literal  to  show  its  French  orio-in. 


254  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

"  Cairo,  five  and  a  half  miles  below,  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  is  the 
site  of  Eden,  according  to  the  celebrated  English  novelist,  Charles 
Dickens.  This  insignificant  village,  which  comprises  as  yet  only  two 
hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  inhabitants,  and  whose  beginning 
goes  back  several  years,  occupies  from  the  commercial  point  of  view,  a 
situation  almost  unrivaled  in  the  entire  world ;  thus  no  mediocre  ambi- 
tion is  there  cherished.  Seated  at  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Mis- 
sissippi, at  the  apex  of  the  delta  formed  by  those  two  powerful  water- 
courses, it  aspires  to  become  some  day  an  eminent  city,  a  colossal  center 
of  progress  and  of  business;  in  a  word,  to  become  the  key  of  all  the 
commerce  of  the  south,  west,  and  northwest  of  the  United  States.  It 
is  true  that  this  enterprise  presents  unimaginable  difficulties  for  its 
realization,  and  that  up  to  the  present  time,  the  town  of  Cairo  has 
marked  its  ambitious  pretensions  only  by  superhuman  efforts  to  arise 
from  a  small  estate  and  to  defend  its  alluvial  flats  against  the  two 
streams  which  constantly  threaten  it  with  inundation  and  unhealthful- 
ness.  These  two  streams  are  not,  however,  invincible,  and  it  is  en- 
tirely probable  that  American  ability  will  in  the  end  triumph  over 
them  by  means  of  perseverance,  labor,  and  expenditure  of  money.  The 
results,  howsoever  obtained  by  this  intrepid  ability,  permit  one  to  dream 
for  Cairo  the  brilliant  destiny  that  its  incomparable  geographical  situ- 
ation promises,  and  that  the  indefatigable  activity  of  its  populace  is 
preparing.  Let  us  note,  in  passing,  that  this  tinj'^  village  gives  itself, 
as  much  as  possible,  anticipatory  airs  of  a  great  city.  Already  there 
are  to  be  seen  several  buildings  for  business  purposes  of  a  monumental 
aspect,  and  an  hotel  which  would  honor  the  finest  city  of  both  worlds. 

"Cairo  will  soon  become  the  terminus  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
way, now  in  course  of  construction,  and  at  this  point  must  occur  some 
future  day  the  welding  of  a  continuous  transportation  route  on  the 
perimeter  of  the  great  federal  republic." 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

FORT  JEFFERSON BIRD^S  POINT  AND  THE   BIRDS 

TO  the  people  of  Cairo,  Fort  Jefferson  has  so  long  been  one  of 
their  very  few  places  for  outings  that  we  are  justified  in  giving 
a  short  sketch  of  it  here. 

It  seems  that  the  matter  of  the  establishment  of  a  fort  at  or  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  River  was  taken  up  by  General  George  Rogers 
Clark  and  Col.  John  Todd  with  Governor  Patrick  Henry  and  then 
with  Governor  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  1778  and  1779,  and  that  the 
fort  and  block-houses  were  constructed  early  in  1780.  In  the  Virginia 
State  Papers,  Vol.  I,  will  be  found  the  correspondence  relating  to  the 
matter.  Among  the  letters  are  the  following:  Lieutenant  Governor 
John  Page  to  Col.  Todd,  at  Kaskaskia,  Aug.  16,  1779;  General  Clark 
to  Governor  Jefferson,  Sept.  23,  1779;  General  Clark  to  Capt.  Silas 
Martin,  Sept.  30,  1779;  General  Clark  to  Col.  Todd,  March,  1780; 
and  Col.  Todd  to  Governor  Jefferson,  June  2,  1780. 

The  other  letters,  not  above  referred  to,  show  the  low  state  to 
which  the  post  had  become  reduced ;  the  starving  condition  of  the 
troops  and  the  settlers  assembled  there;  the  constantly  threatened 
dangers  from  the  Indians;  the  frequent  request  for  aid  and  its  tardy 
arrival;  the  attacks  upon  the  fort  by  the  Indians  under  the  lead  of 
James  Colbert,  a  Scotchman;  the  repulses  and  the  final  abandonment 
of  the  place  as  a  post  and  settlement,  probably  in  1781.  Some  of  the 
settlers  returned   eastward   and   others   removed  to  Kaskaskia. 

The  following  is  the  letter  from  General  Clark  to  Governor  Jeffer- 
son above  referred  to: 

Louisville,  September  23,  1779. 
Dear  Sir: — I  am  happy  to  find  that  your  sentiments  respecting  a  Fortifica- 
tion at  or  near  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  is  so  agreeable  to  the  Ideas  of  every 
man  of  any  judgment  in  this  Department.  It  is  the  spot  that  ought  to  be 
strong  and  Fortified,  and  all  the  Garrisons  in  the  Western  Country  Depend- 
ent on  it,  if  the  ground  would  admit  it,  but  the  misfortune  is,  there's  not  an 
acre  of  ground  nearer  the  Point  than  four  miles  rise  the  Ohio,  but  what  is 
often  Ten  feet  under  water.  About  twelve  miles  below  the  Point  there  is  a 
beautiful  situation,  as  if  by  nature  designed  for  a  Fortification  by  every  obser- 
vation that  has  been  taken,  which  lays  a  quarter  of  a  degree  within  the 
State  of  Virginia.  Its  elevation  is  such  that  a  small  expense  would  render  it 
very  strong  and  of  greater  advantage  than  one  four  miles  up  the  Ohio.  In 
case  you  have  one  built,  a  few  years  will  prove  the  propriety  of  it.  It  would 
immediately  become  the  Key  of  the  whole  Trade  of  the  Western  Country  and 
well  situated  for  the  Indian  Department  in  General.  Besides  many  Salutary 
Effects  it  would  render  During  the  War,  by  awing  our  Enemies,  the  Chicke- 
saws,  and  the  English  Posts  on  the  Mississippi.  The  strength  of  the  Garrison 
ought  not  to  be  less  than  Two  Hundred  men,  when   built.     A  Hundred  fami- 

255 


256  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

lies  that  might  easily  be  Got  to  Settle  in  a  Town  would  be  a  great  advantage 
in  promoting  the  place.  I  am  sensible  that  the  Spaniards  would  be  fond  to 
settle  a  Post  of  Correspondence  opposite  to  it,  if  the  ground  would  admit. 
But  the  country  on  their  side  is  so  subject  to  inundations,  that  it  is  impossible. 
For  the  want  of  such  a  Post  I  find  it  absolutely  necessary  to  station  an  armed 
boat  at  the  Point  so  as  to  command  the  navigation  of  both  rivers,  to  defend 
our  Trading  Boats  and  stop  the  great  concourse  of  Tories  and  Deserters  that 
pass  down  the  River  to  our  Enemies.  The  Illinois,  under  the  present  circuni- 
stances,  is  by  no  means  able  to  supply  the  Troops  that  you  Expect  in  this 
department  with  provisions,  as  the  crops  at  Vincennes  was  so  exceedingly  bad 
that  upwards  of  Five  Hundred  Souls  have  to  depend  on  their  Neighbors  for 
Bread.  I  should  be  exceedingly  glad  that  you  would  commission  some  Per- 
son to  furnish  the  Troops  in  this  Quarter  with  provisions,  as  the  greater  Part 
must  come  from  the  Frontiers  for  the  ensuing  year,  as  I  can't  depend  on  the 
Illinois  for  supplies  more  than  will  be  sufficient  for  two  hundred  and_  fifty 
men.  There  is  an  easy  conveyance  down  the  Tennessee  River  and  Provisions 
more  plenty  on  Holsten  than  in  the  neighborhood  of  F.  P.  H.  [Fort  Patrick 
Henry].  Colonel  John  Campbell,  who  promised  to  deliver  this  letter  to  Your 
Excellency  I  believe  would  undertake  the  task  at  a  moderate  salary,  and  a 
gentleman  of  undoubted  veracity.  But  pray,  sir,  order  as  much  Provisions 
Down  as  will  serve  the  Troops  you  intend  sending  out,  at  least  six  months. 
I  am.   Sir,  with  the   greatest  respect,  your  humble  servant, 

Geo.  Clark. 

It  will  be  observed  that  General  Clark  desired  to  establish  the  fort 
here  at  the  point,  but  the  low  ground  and  the  frequent  inundations 
forbade  it.  It  will  also  be  noticed  that  he  speaks  of  maintaining  an 
armed  boat  at  the  point.  At  that  time  the  whole  country  west  of  the 
Mississippi  was  owned  by  Spain.  Our  Revolutionary  War  was  then 
going  on ;  and  it  was  not  expected  that  the  Spanish  government  would 
be  very  friendly  to  the  cause  of  the  colonies,  and  hence  Clark's  desire 
to  keep  his  eye  on  the  Spanish  territoiy  lying  just  across  the  river. 

In  the  letter  of  Clark  to  Martin  of  Sept.  30,  1779,  Clark  suggests 
the  granting  of  forty  or  fifty  thousand  acres  of  land  to  persons  who 
would  come  and  settle  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fort;  and  Todd  in  his 
letter  to  Jefferson  of  June  2,  1780,  says:  "  I  therefore  granted  to  a 
certain  number  of  families  400  acres,  to  each  family,  at  a  price  to  be 
settled  by  the  general  assembly."  These  two  letters  throw  considerable 
light  upon  the  origin  of  such  land  claims  as  those  of  the  Flannerys, 
the  McElmurrays,  and  of  Standlee  in  this  county-  of  ours. 

I  am  indebted  to  Col.  Emmet  W.  Bagby,  of  Paducah,  for  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  the  fort,  taken  chiefly,  it  seems,  from  Vol.  II,  pages 
39  and  40,  of  Collins'  "History  of  Kentucky,"  ed.  of  1882. 

Fort  Jefferson. — "Under  intimations  from  Governor  Patrick  Henry, 
dated  January  2,  1778,  that  'it  was  in  contemplation  to  establish  a  post  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  with  cannon  to  fortify  it,'  coupled  with  express  instruc- 
tions from  Thos.  Jefferson,  next  Governor  of  Virginia,  dated  June  28,  1778, 
and  repeated  in  January  and  April,  1780,  Gen.  Geo.  Rogers  Clark,  with  about 
200  soldiers,  left  Louisville  early  in  the  summer  of  1780,  and  proceeding 
down  the  river  to  a  point  on  the  Mississippi  called  the  Iron  Banks,  five  miles 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  then  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  there  erected  a 
fort  with  several  block-houses,  which  he  called  Fort  Jefferson.^  One  object 
was  to  fortify  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to  the  Mississippi  River  as  its 
■western  boundary,  south  of  the  Ohio.  Governor  Jefferson  had  engaged  a 
scientific  corps,  with  Dr.  Thomas  Walker  at  its  head,  to  ascertain  by  celestial 


FORT  JEFFERSON  257 


observations  the  boundary  line  between  Virginia  and  North  Carohna,  or  the 
point  on  the  Mississippi  River  intersected  by  the  latitude  of  36°  30',  the 
southern  limit  of  Virginia.  Gen.  Clark  was  instructed  'to  select  a  strong  posi- 
tion near  the  point,  and  there  establish  a  fort  and  garrison;  thence  to  extend 
his  conquests  northward  to  the  lakes,  erecting  forts  at  different  points,  which 
might  serve  as  monuments  of  actual  possession,  besides  affording  protection  to 
that  portion  of  the  country.'  The  result  of  Clark's  bold  operations,  thus  au- 
thorized, was  the  addition  to  the  chartered  limits  of  Virginia,  and  so  recog- 
nized by  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  in  1783,  of  that  immense 
region — afterwards  called  the  'North  Western  Territory,'  and  ceded  by 
Virginia  to  the  United  States— which  now  comprises  the  five  great  states  of 
Ohio,    Indiana,    Illinois,    Michigan    and   Wisconsin. 

"The  Chickasaw  Indians  were  in  1770  the  undisputed  owners  of  the  territory 
on  the  west  of  the  Tennessee  River,  including  the  ground  at  the  mouth  of  May- 
field  Creek,  where  Fort  Jefferson  was  built.  By  some  unexplained  oversight  or 
neglect  of  positive  instructions,  or  inability  to  comply  with  them,  this  site  had 
not  been  purchased  of  the  Indians,  nor  their  consent  obtained  to  the  erection  of 
the  fort,  thus  arousing  their  most  bitter  resentment.  After  awhile  they  began 
marauding  and  then  murdering  individuals  of  the  isolated  families  who  had 
settled  around  the  fort,  thus  dfiving  them  into  the  fort,  and  butchering  many, 
including  the  whole  family  of  Mr.  Music,  except  himself.  In  their  skirrnishes, 
they  captured  a  white  man  whom  they  compelled,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  to 
reveal  the  true  condition  of  the  garrison  and  families,  already  reduced,  by 
sickness  and  absences,  to  about  thirty  men,  of  whom  two-thirds  were  sick 
with  fever  and  ague.  These  were  commanded  by  Capt.  George,  according  to 
Mann  Butler,  and  others,  and  according  to  Gov.  John  Reynolds,  by  Capt. 
James  Pigott.  The  Indians,  who  now  came  a  thousand  or  twelve  hundred 
strong  to  'the  work  of  bloody  extermination,  were  led  by  Colbert,  a  Scotchman, 
who  had  gained  great  control  over  them.  The  siege  lasted  five  or  six  days, 
the  inmates  of  the  fort  being  reduced  to  terrible  extremities  by  famine,  sick- 
ness, scarcity  of  water,  watching  and  fighting.  Their  principal  food  was 
pumpkins  with  the  blossoms  yet  on  them.  They  had  sent  for  spccor,  but  the 
distance  was  great.  They  refused  a  demand  for  a  surrender  within  an  hour, 
although  notified  that  a  strong  force  had  been  sent  to  intercept  the  small  assist- 
ance expected.  A  desperate  night  assault  was  made,  but  as  they  crowded  on, 
Capt.  Geo.  Owen,  commander  of  a  block-house,  raked  them  with  great  slaughter, 
with  a  swivel  loaded  with  rifle  and  musket  balls.  Other  efforts  to  storm  the 
fort,  and  to  set  fire  to  it,  were  bravely  resisted.  At  last  Gen.  Clark  arrived  from 
Kaskaskia,  with  provisions  and  reinforcements,  and  the  baffled  savages  sullenly 
withdrew,  still  threatening  vengeance  The  fort  was  abandoned  shortly  after, 
from  the  difficulty  of  supplying  it  because  so  remote. 

"During  the  late  civil  war,  a  long  six-pounder  iron  cannon  buried  beneath 
the  fort  was  partially  exposed  by  the  caving  in  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Jos. 
Dupoyster,  who  owns  the  site  of  the  fort,  dug  it  out,  but  was  robbed  of  it  by 
Federal  soldiers  then  stationed  at  Cairo. 

"Among  the  soldiers  of  Gen.  Clark  at  Fort  Jefferson,  were  Wm.  Biggs,  James 
Curry,  Levi  Teel,  David  Pagon,  John  Vallis,  Pickett,  Seybold,  Groots  and  many 
others." — (See  also  English's  "Conquest  of  the  Northwest,"  Vol.  II.) 

The  following  is  the  commission  given  James  Colbert,  Nov.  23, 
1780,  by  Major  General  John  Campbell,  commanding  his  Majesty's 
forces  in  the  Province  of  West  Florida. 

"Reposing  especial  trust  and  confidence  in  your  loyalty,  zeal  and  attach- 
ment to  his  Majesty's  Person  and  Government,  and  by  virtue  of  the  powers 
and  authorities  in  me  vested,  I  do  hereby  constitute  and  appoint  you  a  leader 
and  conductor  of  such  volunteer  inhabitants  and  Chickasaw,  Choctaw,  Creek 
or  other  Indians  as  shall  join  you,  for  the  purpose  of  annoying,  distressing, 
attacking  or   repelling   the   King's   enemies,   when,   where   and   as  often   as  you 


258 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

shall  judge  proper  for  the  good  of  his  Majesty's  service,  subject  always  to 
such  further  orders  and  instructions  as  you  shall  from  time  to  time  receive 
from  me  or  any  other  person  or  persons  duly  authorized  for  the  purpose." 
— Virginia  State  Papers,  Vol.  I. 

Bird's  Point  and  the  Birds. — This  point  or  place,  now  Cairo, 
for  some  considerable  time,  and  probabl}^  at  different  times,  bore  the 
name  of  Bird's  Point.  The  family  of  the  Birds  were  originally  Vir- 
ginians. One  or  more  of  them,  it  is  said,  came  west  as  early  as  1779 
and  1780,  when  those  families  or  settlers  came  to  the  vicinity  of  Fort 
Jefferson  at  the  solicitation  of  Governor  Jefferson  and  General  George 
Rogers  Clark.  Clark  had  impressed  upon  Jefferson  that  as  a  part  of 
the  plan  of  establishing  the  fort,  an  attempt  should  be  made  to  get  a 
hundred  families  or  more  to  come  and  settle  on  the  lands  adjacent  to  it. 
It  was  supposed  that  a  permanent  post  could  be  thus  established  which 
would  greatly  aid  in  protecting  the  frontier  country.  One  or  more  of  the 
Birds  were  here  on  this  point  between  the  rivers  as  early  as  1795. 
There  were  then  few  settlers  anywhere  in  this  region  of  the  country.  All 
of  the  Fort  Jefferson  people  had  dispersed,  as  it  were,  after  the  aban- 
donment of  the  fort.  Many  of  them  had  gone  back  east\vard.  They 
were  too  far  from  their  old  homes  and  had  gotten  too  near  the  borders 
of  what  seemed  to  them  the  exclusive  domain  of  the  Indians.  The 
Birds  could  make  no  entries  of  land  at  that  time,  and  it  seems  they 
went  on  to  the  Cape  Girardeau  settlement,  where  many  of  their  rela- 
tives named  Byrd  were.  The  change  in  the  spelling  of  the  name  was 
no  doubt  comparatively  recent.  Many  of  our  citizens  remember  George 
W.  Henricks,  the  contractor  and  builder.  His  sons,  the  lawyers  Wm. 
E.  and  George  W.,  insisted  that  there  should  be  a  letter  "d"  in  the 
name,  and  they  put  it  there  for  themselves  and  their  families,  but  their 
father  never  adopted  the  new  spelling, 

Abram  Bird  purchased  land  on  the  Missouri  side  as  early  as  1798; 
and  their  operations  there  and  here  resulted  in  the  use  of  the  same 
name  for  each  place  at  different  times;  but  so  far  as  the  point  goes  it 
was  more  applicable  to  the  Illinois  than  to  the  Missouri  side. 

The  large  tract  of  land,  about  800  acres,  just  south  of  town  and 
now  owned  by  Mr.  Egbert  A.  Smith,  owes  its  origin  to  a  small  island 
up  where  the  river  turns  eastward  and  towards  the  present  Bird's  Point 
and  Kentucky  shore.  It  was  far  out  in  the  river,  and  its  growth  was 
chiefly  eastward  and  toward  the  Illinois  shore.  In  1850  it  had  reached 
half  the  distance  to  the  Ohio,  and  within  a  few  years  it  threw  out  a 
sand  bar  which  extended  so  far  toward  the  Kentucky  shore  that  boats 
which  did  not  come  out  of  the  Illinois  channel,  but  passed  down  the 
Missouri  channel,  had  to  run  close  to  the  Kentuckj^  shore  and  then 
turn  around  the  sand  bar  and  come  on  up  to  the  Cairo  landing.  This 
island  was  put  down  on  the  old  river  guides  as  Bird's  Island.  After- 
ward it  took  and  held  for  a  long  time  the  name  "Cairo  Island."  This 
point  was  also  once  called  Willow  Point.  An  early  English  traveler 
making  a  trip  down  the  Ohio  and  writing  about  the  place,  said  it  had 
no  other  name  beside  Willow  Point.     Bird's  Point,  and  Ohio  City  near 


FORT  JEFFERSON  259 


by,  once  seemed  to  be  ver}'  hopeful  of  a  prosperous  growth.  This  was 
chiefly  in  the  years  of  the  Cairo  and  Fulton  Railroad,  1855  up  to 
1861. 

In  Houck's  recent  and  valuable  "Historj'  of  Missouri,"  Vol.  II,  p.  164, 
where  the  prairie  on  which  Charleston  now  stands  is  spoken  of,  it  is 
said: 

"  This  prairie  was  known  during  the  Spanish  occupancy  as  'Prairie 
Carlos,'  but  afterwards  among  the  American  settlers  became  known  as 
'Mathews'  Prairie.'  It  was  a  favorite  pasture  of  buffalo  and  in  1781, 
when  Fort  Jefferson  was  besieged  by  the  Indians,  Joseph  Hunter,  cross- 
ing the  river,  hunted  and  killed  buffalo  here,  and  carrying  the  meat  to 
the  river  thus  supplied  the  starving  garrison.  The  first  pioneer  settler 
was  Charles  Finley,  in  1800.  He  sold  his  claim  to  Abram  Bird,  senior. 
Edward  Mathews  came  to  this  prairie  in  the  same  year;  so  also  Edward, 
junior,  Joseph  and  Charles  Mathews.  Abram  Bird  in  1798  received 
a  grant  from  De  Lassus  on  the  Mississippi,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio  and  which  thus  became  known  as  "Bird's  Point."  He  and  his 
brother  Thompson  were  related  to  the  'Byrds'  of  the  Cape  Girardeau 
district,  although  spelling  their  names  differently.  The  original  grant 
has  long  since  been  carried  away  by  the  Mississippi  and  much  other 
land  belonging  to  the  family." 

It  was  not  until  181 7  that  William  and  Thompson  Bird  made  a 
trip  to  Kaskaskia,  the  seat  of  the  land  office,  and  entered  the  lands  they 
desired  and  which  they  had  long  known  and  no  doubt  lived  upon. 
Thompson  Bird,  in  the  name  of  Thompson  Bird  &  Company,  on  the 
26th  day  of  July,  181 7,  entered  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  25, 
containing  160  acres,  and  on  the  same  day  William  Bird  entered  the 
southeast  fractional  quarter  of  the  same  section  containing  112.29 
acres  and  on  July  28,  181 7,  William  Bird  entered  fractional  section  36, 
containing  46.47  acres.  This  shows  that  at  that  time  there  was  no 
island  adjoining  or  near  to  the  Illinois  shore;  otherwise  it  would  have 
been  embraced  in  William  Bird's  purchase  of  fractional  section  36. 
Nor  does  the  government  survey  of  1807  show  anything  south  of  the 
main  land  or  shore.  This  small  strip  of  land  of  46.47  acres  lay  just 
south  of  an  east  and  west  line  running  through  block  56  in  the  city. 
William  and  Thompson  Bird  together  paid  for  these  lands  $637.52, 
which  was  at  the  rate  of  $2.00  an  acre,  the  price  then  required  to  be 
paid.  These  lands  embraced  what  is  now  the  whole_  of  the  southern 
part  of  the  city,  lying  south  of  an  east  and  west  line  just  south  of  the 
stone  depot  at  14th  and  Ohio  Streets,  and  east  of  a  north  and  south 
line  running  just  east  of  the  Saf¥ord  school  building  in  block  80,  in 
the  First  Addition  to  the  city.  It  embraced  all  of  the  city  as  first 
platted,  all  of  the  second  and  third  additions  and  part  of  the  first 
addition. 

Some  of  us  have  often  heard  Kentuckians  speak  of  the  Jackson 
Purchase,  reference  always  being  had  to  western  Kentucky,  between 
the  Tennessee  and  Mississippi  Rivers.     This  descriptive  phrase  arose  in 


26o  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


this  way:  President  Monroe  appointed  Isaac  Shelby  and  Andrew 
Jackson  to  make  a  treaty  with  the  Chickasaw  Indians  for  all  that 
part  of  the  country  lying  north  of  the  south  line  of  Tennessee  and  be- 
tween  the  Tennessee,  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers.  The  treaty  was 
concluded  October  19,  18 18,  and  was  signed  by  Shelby  and  Jackson 
and  a  number  of  the  Indian  chiefs  of  that  nation,  among  them  Major 
General  William  Colbert,  Col.  George  Colbert,  Levi  Colbert  and 
Tames  Colbert,  half-breeds,  and  descendants  of  the  James  Colbert 
mentioned  above.  This  treaty  seems  to  have  been  somewhat  supple- 
mental to  the  treaty  of  September  20,  1816,  signed  by  Andrew  Jackson, 
D.  Meriwether  and  J.  Franklin  for  the  United  States  and  the  Col- 
berts and  other  Indians  for  the  said  tribe.  In  the  treaty  of  October 
19th,  and  among  the  amounts  of  money  the  government  was  to  pay 
the  tribe  was  "the  sum  of  ten  hundred  and  eighty-nine  dollars  to 
Major  James  Colbert,  interpreter,  for  that  amount  of  money  taken 
from  his  pocket  in  the  month  of  June,  1816,  at  the  theatre  in 
Baltimore." 

Concerning  Fort  Jefferson  much  additional  information  is  contained 
in  vol.  V,  Illinois  Historical  Collections  "Kaskaskia  Records,"  Alvord. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

MISCELLANEOUS    PAPERS JUDGES    OF    THE    SUPREME,    CIRCUIT   AND 

COUNTY   COURTS — MEMBERS    OF    THE    LEGISLATURE   AND 
OTHER  BODIES — COUNTY,  CITY  AND  OTHER  OFFI- 
CERS— LISTS  OF  EARLY  RESIDENTS  OF  THE 
CITY,    ETC. 

Fire  of  December  8,  1858. — On  the  8th  day  of  Decem- 
ber, 1858,  about  six  months  after  the  disastrous  inundation  of 
1858,  the  city  hall  or  court-room  and  the  ofKce  of  the  register  of 
deeds  on  Ohio  Street,  between  Sixth  and  Eighth  Streets,  was  destroyed 
by  fire;  and  on  the  i8th  day  of  the  February  following,  the  legislature 
passed  an  act  for  the  restoration  of  the  records  as  far  as  possible,  the 
preamble  of  which  is  in  these  words : 

"Whereas  the  city  hall,  court-room  and  office  of  the  register  of  deeds, 
at,  in  and  for  the  city  of  Cairo,  was,  on  the  eighth  day  of  December,  A. 
D.  1858,  consumed  by  fire,  with  all  the  records  and  proceedings  of 
the  corporate  authorities  of  said  city,  the  records  of  judgments,  decrees 
and  files  of  the  court  of  common  pleas  of  said  city,  and  the  records  of 
deeds  registered  and  recorded  by  the  said  register  of  deeds  therefor, 
together  with  all  other  documents  relating  to  the  offices  aforesaid  or 
contained  in  the  archives  thereof;  therefore,  Section  i,  be  it  enacted,  etc." 

This  fire  accounts  largely  for  the  absence  of  early  city  records,  such 
as  ordinances  and  proceedings  of  the  Trustees  of  the  town  of  Cairo 
from  March,  1855,  to  March,  1857.  '^^  doubt  this  fire  made  way  with 
very  much  that  would  have  possessed  great  historic  interest. 

The  Cemetery  of  the  Lotus. — On  the  3d  day  of  February, 
1853,  the  legislature  incorporated  the  Cairo  Cemetery  Association, 
The  incorporators  were  Samuel  Staats  Taylor,  Henry  Clay  Long, 
George  D.  Gordon,  Patrick  Corcoran,  Thomas  S.  Taylor  and  Charles 
Davis.  It  was  authorized  to  purchase  and  hold  not  exceeding  fifteen 
acres  of  land  for  cemetery  purposes. 

A  tract  of  land  five  hundred  feet  in  width  and  thirteen  hundred  and 
seven  feet  in  length  and  amounting  to  fifteen  acres,  situated  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile,  more  or  less,  east  of  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad  and 
about  two  miles,  or  a  little  less,  above  the  Illinois  Central  bridge  was 
surveyed  and  platted  into  blocks,  lots  and  avenues,  on  the  2gth  day  of 
November,  A.  D.  1855,  for  a  cemetery,  for  the  use  of  the  people  of  the 
city  of  Cairo.  The  tract  of  land  is  a  part  of  the  northwest  quarter 
and  the  southwest  quarter  of  section  ten  and  a  part  of  section  nine, 

261 


262 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

in  our  township.  The  cemetery  was  used  for  a  number  of  years;  and 
among  Col.  Taylor's  papers  are  quite  a  number  relating  to  it.  A  very 
interesting  one  is  the  original  certificate  of  survey  made  under  the  hand 
and  seal  of  Mr.  John  Newell,  "Deputy  Count}^  Surveyor  in  and  for 
Alexander  County,  State  of  Illinois."  Mr.  Newell  afterwards  became 
and  was  for  a  number  of  5^ears  the  president  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company  and  was  still  later  the  president  of  the  Lake  Shore 
Sc  Michigan  Railway  Company.  He  was  one  of  the  very  noted  rail- 
way officials  of  the  country,  long  after  his  residence  here  in  this  county. 

"The  Orphan  Asylum  of  Southern  Illinois  at  Cairo." — 
On  the  1 8th  day  of  August,  1866,  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  Cit>' 
Property,  Taylor  and  Parsons,  conveyed  to  Captain  Daniel  Hurd, 
trustee  for  the  Protestant  Orphan  Asylum  of  Cairo,  Illinois,  for  the 
consideration  of  one  thousand  dollars  ($1000) ,  lots  14,  32,  33,  34  and 
35,  in  block  42,  in  the  First  Addition  to  the  City  of  Cairo;  and  about 
that  time  those  persons  who  were  associated  with  him  arranged  for  the 
erection  of  a  building  upon  the  lots  and  the  incorporation  of  the  society ; 
and  on  the  25th  day  of  February,  1867,  the  same  was  incorporated  by 
an  act  of  our  legislature  and  the  above  name  given  to  the  society.  The 
names  of  the  incorporators  are  the  follo\\ang:  Mrs.  D.  Hurd,  Mrs.  H. 
W.  Wardner,  Mrs.  A.  B.  Fenton,  Mrs.  G.  D.  Williamson,  Miss 
Jennie  Sloo,  Mrs.  J.  C.  Rankin,  Mrs.  D.  T.  Parker,  Mrs.  A.  B. 
Safford,  Mrs.  William  Stratton,  Mrs.  Rachel  Slack,  Mrs.  H.  W. 
Webb,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Morrow,  James  C.  Sloo,  Daniel  Hurd,  Henry  W. 
Webb,  Henry  H.  Candee,  Charles  Galigher,  A.  B.  Fenton,  Samuel  R. 
Hay,  Alfred  Comings,  William  J.  Yost,  John  Olney,  and  Charles 
Latimer. 

Some  time  during  the  war,  the  Christian  Commission  people  erected 
on  the  south  side  of  Fourth  Street,  between  Ohio  Street  and  Com- 
mercial Avenue,  a  building  for  the  prosecution  of  their  army  work. 
This  building  was  purchased  by  the  Orphan  Asylum  people  and  re- 
moved to  the  lots  above  described,  and  the  structure  stands  there  now 
just  about  as  it  was  placed  forty-three  years  ago.  On  the  29th  day  of 
Januar}^  1883,  they  purchased  from  the  Trustees,  for  the  consideration 
of  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  lots  15,  16  and  17,  immediately  west 
of  said  lot  14.  The  first  deed  is  recorded  in  Book  O  on  page  360;  and 
the  second  deed  in  the  same  book,  on  page  41254.  For  many  years  the 
society  was  conducted  as  originally  established;  but  after  a  time  it  was 
deemed  best  to  close  the  institution  and  rent  the  property.  This  was 
done  for  quite  a  length  of  time.  A  few  years  ago,  however,  it  was 
thought  best  to  make  an  effort  to  open  and  conduct  the  same  as  was 
originally  intended  by  the  act  of  incorporation.  I  remember  very  well 
Mrs.  Louise  R.  Wardner  coming  here  from  La  Porte  many  years  ago 
and  severely  criticizing  many  of  us  for  leaving  the  institution  shut  up 
so  long ;  but  those  in  charge  of  its  interests  did  not  for  a  year  or  two,  or 
more  see  their  way  clear  to  open  it.  It  is  believed  that  since  it  has  been 
again  opened  it  has  been  fairly  well  maintained ;  but  the  credit  thereof 


MISCELLANEOUS   PAPERS  263 

is  largely  due  to  the  earnest  and  faithful  women  of  the  organization 
and  to  a  few  men. 

The  Cairo  Drainage  District. — The  Cairo  Drainage  District 
was  established  in  1889.  It  is  inclosed  by  what  we  may  call  levee 
embanlcments  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  miles  in  length ;  that  is,  by  the  city's 
cross  levee  on  the  south,  by  the  levee  embankment  of  the  Cleveland, 
Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Railway  Company  on  the  east  or  Ohio 
side,  by  the  levee  embankment  of  the  St.  Louis  &  Cairo  Railroad  Com- 
pany, or  its  lessee,  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  on  the  west 
or  Mississippi  side;  and  by  a  levee  or  embankment  along  Cache  River 
on  the  north.  It  contains  about  4,000  acres  of  very  fertile  and  valuable 
land,  quite  a  portion  of  which  still  belongs  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo 
Trust  Propert>^  For  the  reclamation  of  this  extensive  track  of  land 
from  the  annual  invasions  of  the  rivers  we  are  indebted  chiefly  to  Col. 
Samuel  Staats  Taylor. 

I  have  before  spoken  of  our  great  need  of  local  trade.  Here  is 
indeed  the  creation  of  a  large  district  which  will  for  all  time  to  come 
add  largely  to  the  trade  and  business  of  the  city.  It  is  as  a  monument 
to  Col.  Taylor;  for  none  could  have  seen  more  clearly  than  he  the 
city's  need  of  adjacent  supporting  territorj^ 

Steamboat  "Tennessee  Valley" 

Bureau  of  Navigation, 
Washington,   February   3,   1910. 
Mr.  John  M.  Lansden, 

614  Commercial  Ave.,  Cairo,  111. 
Sir: 

This  office  has  received  your  letter  of  the  31st  ultimo  relative  to  the  steam- 
boat 'Tennessee  Valley.'  P.  E.  61,  granted  at  New  Orleans  April  23,  1842, 
shows  that  at  that  time  M.  W.  Irwin  was  her  master  and  part  owner;  that 
Samuel  G.  Patton  of  Florance  was  part  owner;  that  she  was  built  at  Cairo, 
111.,  in  1841 ;  that  she  was  measured  by  Seth  W.  Nye,  Surveyor;  that  her 
length  was  204  feet  and  2  inches;  that  her  breadth  was  33  feet  and  4  inches; 
that  her  depth  was  7  feet  and  8  inches;  that  she  measured  495  and  41-95  tons, 
and  that  she  had  a  square  stern  with  cabin  above.  No  record  is  found  of 
the  surrender  of  the  enrolment  and  the  Bureau  is  unable  to  state  whether 
she  was  'burned  or  otherwise  destroyed.'  The  name  of  her  builder  is  not 
specified  on  the  record  here.  It  may  be  that  you  will  be  able  to  obtain  further 
information  regarding  her  from  the  Custom  House  at  New  Orleans. 
Respectfully, 

E.  G.  CHAMBERLAIN,  Commissioner. 

Memorandum   of   Information    Obtained    at   Coast    and    Geodetic    Survey, 
in  Regard  to  Cairo. 

The  magnetic  declination  decreases  at  rate  of  one  minute  per  annum  at 
Cairo.     At  date  1910  4-10,  it  stands  East  4°   35'. 

In  regard  to  the  station  of  the  Geodetic  Survey  at  Cairo: 
The  station  is  on  the  new  city  levee,  between  the  Illinois  Central  and  the 
Mobile  and  Ohio  Rairoad  tracks,  west  of  the  west  end  of  West  33d  Street. 
This  levee  extends  northeast  from  an  iron  post  which  was  set  by  the  levelling 
survey  as  a  bench  mark,  and  which  is  250  feet  southeast  of  the  Mobile  and 
Ohio  signal  station.  The  magnetic  station  is  about  705  feet  northeast  along 
the   city    levee   from   this   bench   mark    and    12    feet    north   of   the   center   of    the 


264  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

levee  on  the  slope.  The  station  is  marked  by  a  Bedford  limestone  post  5  x  5  x  30 
inches,  projecting  six  inches  above  the  ground  and  lettered,  U.  S.  C.  and  G.  S. 
1908.     The  following  true  bearings  were  determined: 

Steeple   of   St.   Joseph's   Catholic   Church 64°  25'  .8  east  of  south 

A  cupola  65°   06'  .8  east  of  south 

Base  of  flagstaff  of  Redman  &  Magee  Co.  elevator  15°  09'  .1  east  of  north 

Bench  mark  of  river  survey 52°   30'  .7  west  of  south 

The  following  are  magnetic  observations  made  June  11  and  12,  1908: 
Lat.  Long.  Declination^  Dip^ 

East 
37°  00.8'  89°  1 1.6'  4°  47.2'  67°  49.6" 

Commercial  Bodies^  Clubs,  Fraternal  Orders  and  Other 
Organizations. — I  have  not  had  the  time  to  speak  of  these  organiza- 
tions in  detail,  and  it  is  quite  impossible  to  say  much  of  them  in  any 
other  way.  They  are  as  numerous,  and  I  have  no  doubt  quite 
as  efficient  and  successful,  as  are  the  like  societies  and  organizations  of 
other  cities  of  the  size  of  Cairo.  I  have  not  the  means  at  hand  and 
am  not  able  to  give  anything  like  a  satisfactory  account  of  them ;  and  a 
partial  account  would  be  so  unsatisfactory  to  the  members  of  the 
various  bodies  that  they  would  not  excuse  me  for  the  errors  and 
omissions  which  would  probably  appear  in  the  several  accounts.  The 
commercial  bodies,  with  which  so  many  of  our  business  men  are  identi- 
fied, have  been  working  hard  and  faithfully  for  many  years  for  the 
advancement  of  the  interests  of  the  city.  Every  one  recognizes  their 
great  usefulness.  1  would  like  to  say  here  a  few  words  in  regard  to 
a  number  of  the  business  men  who  have  taken  leading  parts  in  the  good 
work  of  upbuilding  the  city;  but  every  one  will  recognize  the  difficulty 
of  making  just  the  right  selections  and  of  saying  just  the  right  things 
concerning  particular  individuals.  I  would  be  glad  to  have  it  under- 
stood that  it  is  from  no  oversight  or  forgetfulness  on  my  part  that  this 
omission  occurs.  The  work  I  have  bestowed  upon  this  book  has  been 
much  more  than  I  expected ;  and  more  recently  I  have  found  it  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  bring  it  to  an  end,  whatever  errors  or  omissions  may 
appear  therein. 

It  would  require  no  little  time  and  work  to  go  over  all  these  matters 
with  any  degree  of  fullness,  and  to  add  thereto  accounts  of  our  water 
works,  established  in  1885,  and  furnishing  us  an  abundant  supply  of 
good  water,  our  gas  and  electric  lighting,  our  street  car  and  interurban 
railroad  service,  our  extensive  manufacturing  interests  and  other  large 
and  important  business  enterprises,  our  shipping  facilities  by  river  and 
rail,  our  extensive  and  fine  street  improvements,  and  our  great  advance- 
ment in  the  matter  of  the  erection  of  better  buildings  of  all  kinds,  pub- 
lic and  private ; — all  these  matters,  and  many  others,  have  been  so  fully 
set  forth  from  time  to  time  by  our  commercial  bodies  in  illustrated 
pamphlets  and  descriptive  circulars,  that  it  is  quite  unnecessary^  to 
present  them  in  a  book  like  this  which  reaches  the  hands  of  compara- 
tively few  persons,  and  they  chiefly  residents  of  the  city. 

^The  angle  between  the  magnetic  meridian  shown  by  the  compass,  and  the 
geographical  meridian. 

2The  angle  the  needle  makes  with  the  plane  of  the  horizon. 


MISCELLANEOUS  PAPERS 265 

Besides  this,  our  city  directories  contain  so  much  relating  to  ver>' 
many  of  these  matters  that  to  give  them  here  would  be  almost  a  use- 
less repetition.  Our  last  city  directory,  the  one  for  1 908- 1909,  by 
Mr.  George  B.  Walker,  is  a  very  useful  city  book  indeed.  Besides 
the  general  information  it  contains  about  our  societies,  fraternities, 
commercial  and  other  organizations,  etc.,  it  contains  so  many  names  of 
persons  now  resident  in  the  city  that  it  will  likely  increase  in  value 
the  further  we  get  away  from  the  time  of  its  publication.  I  know  of 
no  one  having  Harrell's  directory  of  1864,  and  all  subsequent  direc- 
tories. A  complete  set  of  them  would  be  exceedingly  valuable,  chiefly 
for  the  names  of  the  people  of  Cairo  resident  here  about  the  dates  of 
the  respective  publications  of  the  books. 

Historical  Places  in  the  City;  Some  Distinguished  Per- 
sonages.— 1  might  cut  the  first  one  of  these  subjects  very  short  by 
saying  there  are  no  historical  places  in  the  city,  and  give  as  a  reason 
that  Cairo  is  but  a  few  years  old,  not  over  fifty-seven.  It  was  started 
in  18 18,  but  only  on  paper.  It  was  started  again  in  1836,  but  lived 
out  scarcely  ten  years.  At  best,  it  was  in  a  state  of  suspended  anima- 
tion from  1843  to  1853,  when  in  December  of  the  latter  j^ear  the  first 
opportunity  was  given  for  the  purchase  of  lots  or  other  real  estate. 
The  federal  census  of  1850  gave  the  place  two  hundred  and  forty-two 
inhabitants.  It  was  without  any  kind  of  town,  village  or  city  govern- 
ment. It  was  little  more  than  what  Maximilian,  Prince  of  Wied- 
Neuwied,  said  it  was  in  March,  1832.  He  said  it  had  no  other  name 
than  the  "Mouth  of  the  Ohio."  On  the  ist  day  of  October,  1853,  the 
Trustees  published  their  first  notice  that  they  were  ready  to  offer 
lots  for  sale;  but  they  offered  none  until  December  23d  of  that  year; 
and  the  first  lot  sold  was  lot  eight,  block  twenty,  in  the  city,  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  Third  Street  and  Commercial  Avenue.  It  was 
sold  to  Peter  Stapleton,  vi'hose  family  is  still  well  represented  here  in 
Cairo. 

This  may  be  said  to  be  the  time  of  the  starting  of  the  present  city 
of  Cairo.  It  will  be  fifty-seven  years  ago,  December  23,  1910.  We 
have  here  nothing  now  which  came  over  to  us  from  the  decade  of  1836 
to  1846,  the  Holbrook  regime;  nor  have  we  here  now  any  building  or 
structure  that  was  here  in  December,  1853,  save  the  little  school 
house  building  on  Eleventh  Street.  There  are  a  few  old  houses 
now  claiming  existence  along  with  the  Springfield  block,  the 
stone  depot  and  one  or  two  other  places,  but  they  have  been  moved 
about  and  so  repaired  as  to  be  now  past  recognition.  About  all  we 
have  are  a  few  sites  of  old  but  long  since  perished  buildings,  a  few  of 
which  merit  brief  notices.  I  have  elsewhere  spoken  of  the  Halliday 
Hotel.  Let  me  here  mention  two  or  three  others.  The  Rev.  Timothy 
Flint,  who  passed  here  in  the  year  18 16  (18 18),  recorded  the  fact  that 
the  hotel  then  here  was  kept  in  a  large  boat  one  hundred  feet  long.  I 
need  not  repeat  what  is  elsewhere  said  by  him  in  Chapter  XXX.  The 
old  hotel,  built  and  maintained  so  long  at  the  point,  and  a  little  outside 


266  HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


of  the  point  of  junction  of  our  present  levees,  must  have  been  built  as 
far  back  as  1830,  probably  earlier.  Before  that  time  one  or  two  or 
more  houses  had  been  erected  in  that  immediate  vicinity.  Mr.  Crumb, 
quoted  in  the  same  chapter,  gives  us  an  account  of  w^hat  he  called  the 
fine  hotel  there  on  the  29th  of  May,  1836.  The  same  hotel  was  there 
during  the  whole  of  the  Holbrook  administration.  Mr.  William 
Harrell  speaks  of  it  and  tells  how  it  was  crowded  with  guests  in  the 
early  forties,  and  of  a  large  addition  having  been  built  to  accommodate 
the  greatly  increased  custom.  The  Englishman,  William  Oliver,  who 
stopped  there  three  or  four  days  in  1841,  tells  us  of  his  experience  while 
here  and  at  the  hotel,  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  a  steamboat  to  take 
him  up  the  Mississippi.  We  cannot  realize  the  extent  of  the  travel 
down  the  Ohio  and  down  the  Mississippi  from  here,  and  up  the 
Mississippi  to  St.  Louis  and  other  points  at  that  early  day.  They, 
the  two  rivers,  were  then  the  great  highways  of  travel,  and  it  was  not 
until  much  later  times  that  other  courses  and  means  of  travel  took  the 
place  of  the  rivers. 

About  the  last  official  reference  we  have  to  that  old  hostelry  is  found 
in  ordinance  No.  65,  adopted  March  7,  1858,  wherein  a  license  was 
granted  for  the  erection  and  operation  of  a  distillery  for  ten  years  upon 
two  or  more  acres  of  ground  in  the  southern  part  of  the  city  outside 
of  the  levees  and  including  the  "Old  Cairo  Hotel  site."  The  old 
distillery  building,  seen  in  the  picture  of  the  point,  gave  way  in  1861 
to  the  construction  of  Fort  Defiance,  the  successor,  after  one  hundred 
and  sixty-nine  years,  of  the  fort  of  Sieur  Charles  Juchereau  de  St.  Denis. 
Fort  Defiance  lived  out  the  war  of  four  years.  It  defied  the  Confed- 
erates successfully  for  that  length  of  time,  but  had  to  yield  to  the 
demands  of  peace  and  trade  and  was  supplanted  by  the  first  station 
buildings  of  the  Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  Company.  These  dis- 
appeared in  a  few  years,  and  there  now  stands,  only  a  few  rods  north 
of  the  old  site,  Mr.  Henry  E.  Halliday's  grain  elevator,  like  some  tall 
sentinel  guarding  faithfully  the  oldest  of  the  historic  sites  our  city 
affords.  But  older  than  them  all,  and  adding  to  their  interest,  is  the 
foot  of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian,  planted  almost  on  that  very 
spot  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago. 

Next  to  that  old  hotel  was  the  Taylor  House,  on  four  or  five  lots, 
at  the  southwest  corner  of  Fourth  Street  and  Commercial  Avenue, 
where  Mr.  Henry  Hasenjaeger  now  resides.  It  was  completed  early 
in  the  year  1855,  and  opened  on  the  9th  day  of  May  of  that  year.  It 
was  a  large  building  and  no  doubt  took  its  name  from  Col.  Samuel 
Staats  Taylor,  who  at  that  time  owned  the  lots.  A  Mr.  Grimes,  of 
Paducah,  seems  to  have  been  the  first  proprietor  of  the  hotel;  and  the 
"Cairo  City  Times"  of  September  12,  1855,  notes  the  sale  of  the  hotel 
business  by  him   to  a  Mr.   Swinney,   formerly  of  the  Walnut   Street 


MISCELLANEOUS   PAPERS 267 

House,  of  Cincinnati.  About  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  hotel,  a 
large  number  of  the  members  of  the  state  legislature  and  other  guests 
of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  probably  three  hundred 
persons,  visited  Cairo,  and  most  of  them  were  entertained  at  the  Taylor 
House.  Among  them  were  Governor  Joel  A.  Matteson,  Ex-Governor 
John  Reynolds,  Judge  Lyman  Trumbull,  and  many  other  persons  of 
note.  With  the  mention  of  these  somewhat  noted  men  visiting  Cairo 
in  the  bright  dawn  of  its  third  attempt  to  become  a  city,  I  may  here  also 
mention  a  number  of  persons  who  were  here  before  and  since  that  year, 
1855,  and  all  of  them  very  distinguished  indeed.  It  may  be  going 
back  somewhat  too  far,  but  it  is  history,  and  that  is  what  we  are 
endeavoring  to  write.  As  I  have  already  stated.  General  Andrew  Jack- 
son was  here  with  fifteen  hundred  soldiers,  two  or  three  days,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1813.  Abraham  Lincoln  no  doubt  landed  his  well  ladened  flat- 
boat  here  on  his  two  trips  down  the  Sangamon,  the  Illinois  and  Missis- 
sippi Rivers  to  New  Orleans,  in  1831.  Zachary  Taylor  was  here  in 
February,  1849,  after  his  election  to  the  presidency,  but  before  his 
inauguration.  Vice-President  John  C.  Breckinridge  was  here  in  April, 
1858.  James  A.  Garfield  was  here  in  October,  1868.  Ulysses  Grant 
was  here  in  1861  and  1880.  Jefferson  Davis  was  here  June  8,  1881. 
Theodore  Roosevelt  was  here  in  October,  1907,  and  William  H.  Taft 
was  here  in  October,  1909.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  one  will  pre- 
pare a  suitable  account  of  these  two  last  occasions,  in  which  most  of 
the  others  just  mentioned  might  also  be  given  their  proper  places.  I 
have  said  nothing  as  to  the  distinguished  persons  here  during  the  Hol- 
brook  administration  in  which  so  many  Englishmen  were  interested  ; 
nor  have  I  undertaken  to  refer  to  the  great  number  of  distinguished 
persons  who  were  here  during  the  war. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  1865. — The  hopes  of  the  people  of  Cairo  were 
perhaps  quite  high  enough  when  the  war  began,  but  they  rose  much  higher  during 
its  continuance.  Every  one  seemed  assured  of  a  bright  future  for  the  city. 
One  of  the  evidences  of  this  is  found  in  the  incorporation,  February  i6,  1865, 
two  months  before  the  close  of  the  war,  of  the  Cairo  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
the  incorporators  of  which  were  George  D.  Williamson,  D.  Hurd,  Henry  Winter, 
James  W.  Musson,  John  N.  Patton,  John  M.  Cyrus,  William  P.  Halliday,  Corne- 
lius O'Callahan,  A.  B.  Safford,  James  McKenzie,  Ward  L.  Smith,  John  Clancy, 
Dyas  T.  Parker,  H.  H.  Johnson,  Thomas  Wilson,   and  James  S.  Rearden. 

Further  along  will  be  found  a  list  of  the  officers  and  members  of  the  body, 
taken  from  a  pamphlet  of  twenty-five  pages,  printed  early  in  that  year  by  the 
Cairo  Democrat  Company.  The  pamphlet  contains  the  charter  of  the  com- 
pany, approved  by  Richard  J.  Oglesby,  governor,  and  the  somewhat  extensive 
rules  and  regulations  of  the  association.  I  have  given  the  list  of  officers  and 
other  members  chiefly  because  it  will  recall  to  many  persons  now  in  Cairo  so 
many  of  the  more  prominent  men  of  Cairo  of  forty-five  years  ago. 


268 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


OFFICERS    OF    THE 
CAIRO    CHAMBER   OF    COMMERCE 

From   March,    1865,   to   March,    1866. 

President, 
Wm.  P.  Halliday. 

Vice  President, 
Jno.  M.  Cyrus. 

Secretary, 
F.  G.  Chapman. 

Treasurer, 
A.  B.  Safford. 

Directors 


S.  N.  Fullinwider, 
D.  T.  Parker, 
A.  B.  Safford, 
J.  W.  Musson, 
C.  R.  Woodward, 


Jno.  N.  Patton. 
Committee   of   Appeals 


D.  Kurd, 

E.  D.  Trover, 
Joseph  McKenzie, 
G.  D.  Williamson, 
S.  S.  Homans, 


D.  Hurd, 
J.  B.  Reed, 

S.  N.  Fullinwider, 
P.  T.  Mitchell, 


C.   Schultz. 


J.  K.  Frost, 

D.  T.  Parker, 

E.  Maxwell, 
J.  W.  Musson, 


Committee  of  Arbitration,   from  March  to   September,   1865 

Samuel   Payne,  Ward  L.   Smith, 

A.   H.   Powers,  C.  R.  Woodward, 
S.  S.  Homans. 

Committee  of  Arbitration  from  September,  1865,  to  March,   1866 
A.  B.  Safford,  A.  Comings, 

J.   Cushing,  P.   Chapman, 

G.  D.  Williamson. 

Names  of  the  Other  Members 
C.  M.  Osterloh,  D.  H.  Philips,  William  Lonergan,  E.  Hodge,  John  C. 
White,  J.  B.  Humphreys,  John  Walters,  L.  T.  Bonaceua,  Isaac  Mooney,  J. 
McDonald,  J.  D.  Huntington,  P.  G.  Schuh,  F.  Bross,  J.  S.  Rearden,  C.  C. 
Davidson,  J.  F.  Noyes,  H.  M.  Evans,  William  Stratton,  James  Kooken,  Andreas 
Doll,  F.  M.  C.  DeVassa,  C.  Close,  A.  J.  Harrison,  A.  A.  Arrick,  Thomas  Lewis, 
T.  G.  Lansden,  Jewett  Wilcox,  Wm.  G.  Priest,  R.  I.  Condiff,  O.  P.  Lyon,  Jno. 
Wilson,  J.  G.  Haydock,  R.  G.  Furguson,  Dan  Able,  J.  P.  Prather,  J.  S. 
Byington,  James  S.  Swayne,  A.  Nuernberger,  P.  Grossmuck,  Peter  Neff,  Wm. 
Simpson,  A.  Williams,  I.  Williams,  M.  D.  Picard,  B.  Smyth,  Chas.  Galigher, 
Al.  Amiss,  S.  P.  McGuire,  A.  R.  Whitaker,  Thos.  Winter,  Chas.  Scudder, 
Henrv  Johnson,  David  J.  Baker,  Sol.  A.  Silver,  Fred.  Foster,  W.  N.  Swayne, 
H.  W.  Hubbard,  Wm.  Truesdail.— See  the  "Daily  War  Eagle"  of  April 
17,  1865,  for  the  names  of  Irwin  Maxwell,  William  H.  Schutter  and  others. 


MISCELLANEOUS  PAPERS 269 

The  Judges  of  the  Supreme,  Circuit  and  County  Courts, 
AND  Members  of  the  Legislature  and  of  Other  Bodies. — Alex- 
ander County  was  part  of  the  third  judicial  circuit  until  1857,  when 
other  circuits  were  established  and  the  county  included  in  the  nine- 
teenth circuit.  In  1873,  it  became  part  of  the  first  judicial  circuit, 
where  it  still  remains.  The  judges  who  have  held  our  circuit  court 
since  the  organization  of  the  county  in  18 19,  are  as  follows:  Richard 
M.  Young,  Henry  Eddy,  Alexander  F.  Grant,  Jeptha  Hardin,  Walter 
B.  Scates,  William  A.  Denning,  William  K.  Parrish,  John  H.  Mulkey, 
William  H.  Green,  Monroe  C.  Crawford,  Wesley  Sloan,  John  Olney, 
David  J.  Baker,  John  Doughertj^  Oliver  A.  Harker,  Daniel  M. 
Browning,  Robert  W.  McCartney,  George  W.  Young,  Joseph  P. 
Robarts,  Alonzo  K.  Vickers,  Warren  W.  Duncan,  William  N.  Butler 
and  A.  W.  Lewis.  The  following  are  the  names  of  Cairo  citizens  who 
have  been  judges  of  our  courts  here  and  elsewhere:  William  A. 
Denning,  judge  of  the  supreme  court  from  January  19,  1847,  to 
December  4,  1848;  David  J.  Baker,  judge  of  the  supreme  court  from 
June,  1878,  to  June,  1879,  by  appointment  of  Governor  Shelby  M. 
CuUom,  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Judge  Breese, 
which  occurred  June  28,  1878;  John  H.  Mulkey,  judge  of  the  supreme 
court  from  June,  1879,  to  June,  1888;  David  J.  Baker,  from  June, 
1888,  to  June,  1897;  John  H.  Mulkej^  William  H.  Green,  John 
Olney,  David  J.  Baker,  Joseph  P.  Robarts  and  William  N.  Butler, 
judges  of  our  circuit  court;  Levi  L.  Lightner,  Alexander  C.  Hodges, 
Fredolin  Bross,  Reuben  S.  Yocum,  John  H.  Robinson,  and  William 
S.  Dewey,  judges  of  our  county  court. 

Our  county  has  had  but  one  member  of  Congress  and  that  is  our 
present  member,  the  Hon.  N.  B.  Thistlewood.  The  following  are  the 
names  of  the  members  of  the  legislature  from  our  county  in  the  order 
given :  Daniel  W.  Munn,  Reed  Green  and  Walter  Warder,  mem- 
bers of  the  senate;  William  M.  Alexander,  Henry  L.  Webb,  Wilson 
Able,  William  A.  Denning,  John  Hodges,  F.  M.  Rawlins,  Henry  W. 
Webb,  John  H.  Oberly,  Claiborne  Winston,  Alexander  H.  Irvin, 
Thomas  W.  Halliday,  Harmon  H.  Black,  D.  T.  Linegar,  Reuben  S. 
Yocum,  Charles  F.  Nellis,  Reed  Green,  Walter  Warder,  William  Q. 
McGee,  S.  B.  Miller  and  Richard  E.  Powers,  members  of  the  house. 
Members  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1862,  William  A. 
Hacker.  Member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1870,  William 
J.  Allen.  ^Member  of  the  State  Board  of  Equalization,  1868  to  1872, 
Thomas  Wilson.  Presidential  elector  on  the  Republican  ticket,  1868, 
Daniel  W.  Munn;  on  that  ticket,  1872,  David  T.  Linegar. 

The  names  of  the  present  city  and  county  officers  are  as  follows: 
George  Parsons,  maj^or;  Robert  A.  Hatcher,  city  clerk;  Frank  B. 
Armstrong,  city  treasurer;  Hunter  Bird,  city  attorney;  Angus  Leek, 
special  city  counsel;  Ernest  Nordman,  city  comptroller;  Andrew  Whit- 
camp,  police  magistrate ;  J.  G.  Cowell,  chief  of  police  or  city  marshal. 

City  aldermen:  First  Ward,  Patrick  C.  SculHn  and  Calvin  V. 
NeflE;  Second  Ward,  George  G.  Koehler  and  Tom  L.  Faudree;  Third 


270 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Ward,  Thomas  W.  Williams  and  Edward  A.  Burke;  Fourth  Ward, 
Leo  McDaniel  and  Frank  Ferguson;  Fifth  Ward,  Fred  D.  Nellis 
and  Dr.  John  T.  Walsh ;  Sixth  Ward,  Daniel  E.  Kelly  and  Frank  E. 
Cannon;  Seventh  Ward,  William  M.  Magner  and  William  P. 
Greaney, 

County  officers.  Board  of  Cotnty  Commissioners:  Dr.  John  J. 
Jennelle,  chairman;  Dr.  Edwin  Gause  and  Calvin  V.  Neff;  Jesse  E. 
Miller,  county  clerk;  Alfred  Brown,  circuit  clerk;  Fred  D.  Nellis, 
sheriff;  Alexander  Wilson,  state's  attorney;  Professor  S.  E.  Gott, 
county  superintendent  of  schools;  William  D.  Lippitt,  assessor  and 
treasurer;  Dr.  James  McManus,  coroner. 

The  present  judges  of  the  first  judicial  circuit  are  William  N. 
Butler,  Cairo;  Warren  W.  Duncan,  Marion;  and  Albert  W  Lewis, 
Harrisburg.  The  present  judge  of  our  county  court  is  William  S. 
Dewey. 

Postmasters  of  the  "Mouth  of  the  Ohio"  and  of  the  City  of  Cairo. — 
The  records  of  the  postoffice  department  at  Washington  show  the  following 
named   persons  to   have   been   postmasters  here   at  this  place,   with  the   dates  of 


27,  1839;  Thomas  L.  Mackoy,  November  30,  1841;  Bryan  Shannessey,  April 
14,  1842;  Addison  H.  Sanders,  July  10,  1847;  Moses  B.  Harrell,  September 
26,  1849;  Bailev  S.  Harrell,  March  14,  1850;  Henry  Simmons,  February  18, 
1852;  Brvan  Shannessey,  June  16,  1853;  Samuel  S.  Brooks,  August  23,  1853; 
Leonard  G.  Faxon,  June  14,  1858;  Alexander  G.  Holden,  January  10,  i860; 
David  T.  Linegar,  March  27,  1861 ;  James  C.  Sloo,  November  7,  1863;  Wil- 
liam A.  Looney,  June  6,  1865;  John  M.  Graham,  July  23,  1866;  George 
W.  McKeaig,  July  9,  1870,  held  until  February  12,  1883,  when  William  M. 
Murphy  was  appointed;  Thomas  Wilson,  August  9,  1885;  Alexander  H. 
Irvin,  January  7,  1889;  John  Wood,  June  27,  1889;  Michael  J.  Howley, 
December  12,  1893;  John  F.  Rector,  January  21,  1898,  and  Sidney  B.  Miller, 
the  present  postmaster,  December  12,  1901. 

Although  this  list  was  said  to  be  complete,  yet  it  seems  that  Walter  Falls 
was  postmaster  here  at  a  very  early  day. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  law^^ers,  physicians,  and  den- 
tists now  resident  in  the  city : 

Lawyers:  Hunter  Bird,  Wm.  N.  Butler,  Wm.  S.  Dewey,  Miles  Frederick 
Gilbert,  William  B.  Gilbert,  Miles  S.  Gilbert,  Reed  Green,  Harry  Hood,  John 
M.  Lansden,  David  S.  Lansden,  Angus  Leek,  Frank  Moore,  Michael  J.  O'Shea, 
Walter  Warder,  Walter  B.  Warder,    and  Alexander  Wilson. 

Physicians:  A.  A.  Bondurant,  S.  B.  Carey,  R.  E.  Clancy,  W.  C.  Clarke, 
H.  A.  Davis,  Samuel  Dodds,  James  W.  Dunn,  E.  E.  Gordon,  W.  F.  Grinstead, 
J.  B.  Hibbitts,  James  McManus,  G.  H.  McNemer,  J.  J.  Rendleman,  D.  A. 
Stevens,  J.  E.  Strong,  John  T.  Walsh,  Charles  Weber  and  J.  E.  Woelfle. 

Doctors  E.  S.  Dickerson  and  W.  H.  Fields  are  worthy  representatives  of  the 
colored  people  of  the  city. 

Dentists:  N.  W.  Cox,  J.  H.  Davis,  F.  M.  Harrell,  Bert  Harris,  J.  J.  Jennelle, 
T.  D.  Morrison,  and  E.  D.  Morrow. 


MISCELLANEOUS  PAPERS  271 

The  Arab  Fire  Company  of  Cairo  was  incorporated  by  a  special  act  of 
the  legislature  February  i6,  1865,  and  the  names  of  the  incorporators  were  as 
follows:  Henry  Winter,  H.  Watson  Webb,  George  Cushing,  James  Capritz, 
A.  G.  Holden,  John  H.  Robinson,  George  W.  Weldon,  David  J.  Baker,  Jr., 
George  Winter,  Wm.  Smith,  D.  Webster  Baumgard,  Charles  D.  Arter,  Wm. 
Sandusky,  Joseph  Meigler,  Henry  Lattner,  C.  H.  Wentz,  John  Hayward,  Van 
R.  Hall,  Edward  Mansford,  John  H.  Gossman,  Wm.  Tell,  John  Major,  Wm. 
J.  Yost,  John  Myers,  Casper  Hock,  Fred  Keiler,  Henry  Franken,  Henry 
Messner,  John  Hodges,  Jr.,  E.  F.  Davis,  A.  H.  Irvin,  Wood  Rittenhouse,  John 
Jaquish,  David  T.  Linegar,  Henry  Harris,  Wm.  B.  Miller,  James  Gordon, 
George  Stormer,  Jerry  Cantrell,  Wm.  Alba,  Philip  Theobold,  John  C.  White, 
George  W.  Burrows,  L.  D.  Jones,  August  Kramer,  Chas.  W.  Henderson, 
Jacob  G.  Lynch,  Charles  Bromback,  Edward  Koblatz,  Fred  Whitcamp,  Joseph 
K.  Frick,  Charles  Pfifferling,  Joseph  Kosminski,  W.  W.  Villito,  A.  Wittig, 
Edward  Wittig,  George  Van  Brocklin,  Frederick  Theobold,  Cornelius  Cafferty, 
and  J.  Parker  Timmony. 

The  Rough  and  Ready  Fire  Company  was  incorporated  by  a  special  act 
of  the  legislature  March  7,  1867,  and  the  names  of  the  incorporators  were  as 
follows:  B.  M.  Munn,  Fredolin  Bross,  William  T.  Beerwort,  John  Scheel, 
Joseph  B.  Taylor,  Ferdinand  Amon,  Henry  Sigfried,  Charles  Eble,  John  Harst, 
Charles  Frank,  Henry  F.  Goodyear,  Joseph  Helen,  Sr.,  August  Bieland,  James 
Kinnear,  John  Maxey,  Philip  Schmitt,  R.  G.  Jameson,  Andrew  Dentinger, 
Michael  Ruggaber,  John  Ritter,  John  Schmitt,  Martin  Strauhal,  Hiram  Walker, 
Peter  Zimmerman,  James  S.  Swayne,  Niles  Swayne,  Peter  Ehs,  William  Seifried, 
John  Sackberger,  Adam  Neff,  August  Veirun,  Joseph  Farquar,  John  Royaker, 
Christian  Orth,  Peter  Kuhn,  Sr.,  J.  G.  Steinhouse,  Joseph  Lehmes,  Charles 
Mehner,  Joseph  M.  Veirun,  James  Axley,  Charles  Feuchter,  F.  M.  Stockfleth, 
Henry  Brown,  John  Koag,  Fred  Sheeler,  George  G.  Smith,  Frank  Swoboda, 
Philip  Howard,  Louis  Blattau,  Joseph  Steagala,  Alexander  Wittig,  August 
Homann,  and  John  Goetgen. 

The  Hibernian  Fire  Company  No.  4  was  incorporated  January  5,  1877, 
under  the  general  act  for  the  incorporation  of  such  companies,  approved  April 
18,  1872,  and  the  names  of  the  incorporators  were  as  follows:  Henry  Stout, 
Patrick  O'Loughlin,  Smith  Torrence,  Michael  J.  Howley,  William  McHale, 
James  F.  Miller,  Albert  Susanka,  Harmon  Able,  Patrick  Fitzgerald,  Frank 
Gazzola,  Patrick  H.  Corcoran,  Thomas  R.  Shook,  Martin  Gannon,  James 
Greaney,  James  Garland,  Thomas  Stack,  Richard  Murphy,  Benj.  F.  Blue,  James 
Powers,  Phil  K.  Howard,  Stephen  T.  McBride,  Phillip  J.  Thistlewood,  Wm. 
M.  Williams,  Jesse  Mahaffie,  Michael  Stapleton,  Robert  Smyth,  Patrick  Burke, 
James  Ross,  Richard  Fitzgerald,  John  A.  Powers,  Martin  Coffey,  Thomas 
Boyle,  John  M.  Hogan,  Felix  Cross,  and  Richard  R.  Hurd. 

After  these  there  were  one  or  two  other  fire  companies  but  all  of  them 
were  practically  discontinued  when,  under  the  lead  of  Mayor  Charles 
O.  Patier,  the  council  established  the  paid  fire  department  of  the  city. 
All  of  the  three  companies  above  named  were  in  existence  for  some  con- 
siderable time  before  their  incorporation.  Before  their  time  there  was 
a  fire  company  called  the  Relief  Fire  Co.  No.  One  ( i ) ,  whose  engine 
house  was  on  the  north  side  of  Seventh  Street  between  the  two  avenues. 
It  was  the  first  fire  company  of  the  city. 

We  have  given  the  names  of  the  incorporators  of  these  companies 
for  the  reason  that  among  them  are  so  many  names  which  many  of  the 
present  residents  of  Cairo  will  be  glad  to  recognize.  Of  the  Arab  Fire 
Company,  Mr.  Henr)^  Winter  was  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
the  leading  spirit.     Of  the  Rough  and  Ready  Company,  Mr.  William 


272 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

Beerwort  was  in  many  respects  the  most  prominent  member.  Of  the 
Hibernian  Fire  Company,  almost  every  one  would  speak  of  Mr. 
William  McHale  as  probably  its  chief  and  most  prominent  represent- 
ative. It  is  indeed  interesting  to  look  over  the  names  of  these  mem- 
bers of  the  old  but  no  longer  existing  companies,  and  recall  their  lives 
in  our  community.  Those  companies  were  favorites  of  our  citizens, 
much  above,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  what  was  generally  noticed  else- 
where. They  were  well  supported  during  their  entire  existence,  and 
nothing  they  asked  at  the  hands  of  the  public  was  probably  ever  denied 
to  them. 

The  Old  Cairo  Veteran  Club  was  Organized  February  13,  1891. — We 
quote  from  its  small  pamphlet  containing  a  statement  of  its  object,  together 
with  its  by-laws,  list  of  members,  etc.: 

"The  Old  Cairo  Veteran  Club,  citizens  of  Cairo,  in  the  year  1857,  was 
organized  at  the  hall  of  the  Arab  Fire  Company,  in  the  City  of  Cairo,  111., 
on  the  night  of  February  13,  1891,  by  the  following  named  gentlemen  to  wit: 
Hon.  David  J.  Baker,  Judge  F.  Bross,  John  Howley,  John  McNulty,  John 
Antrim,  Joseph  Brankle,  R.  H.  Baird,  Captain  William  M.  Williams,  F.  Vin- 
cent, Henry  Winter,  Jacob  Lehning,  John  Clancy,  Hank  Goodyear,  John  O'Shea, 
William  Lonergan,  James  Summerwell,  Nat  Prouty,  John  Sackberger,  William 
M.  Downs,  Andrew  Lohr,  James  Quinn,  William  Garren,  Richard  Murphy, 
Martin  O'Shea,  John  Barry,  Edward  Jones,  Pat  Cahill,  Martin  Driscoll,  Thomas 
Mehan,  C.  Osterloh,  R.  H.  Cunningham,  Charles  Thrupp,  Michael  Glynn,  Au- 
gust Marqued,  Joseph  McKenzie,  Isaac  Farnbaker,  Charles  Frank,  Albert 
Susanka,  Henry  Loflin,  Dennis  Stapelton,  H.  H.  Candee,  W.  F.  Raefesnider  and 
James  Mehan. 

"There  are  forty-three  in  number,  the  object  being  for  a  yearly  fraternal 
gathering  of  not  only  the  present  resident  citizens  of  Cairo,  who  were  here  in 
1857,  but  all  those  non-residents,  who  were  here  then  and  who  are  living  now, 
to  meet  and  mingle  with  us  at  our  yearly  banquets  and  talk  over  old  times, 
one  with  another,  and  drink  a  toast  to  the  departed  ones,  and  a  toast  to  the  liv- 
ing ones,  for  soon  we  all  must  go;  the  main  object  being  to  keep  up  the  memories 
of  by-gone  days." 

"Officers:  President,  Robert  H.  Baird;  vice-president,  John  Howley;  treas- 
urer, F.  Bross;  secretary,  Henry  Winter;  sentinel,  James  Summerwell. 

"Cairo  Citizens  Eligible  for  Membership. — S.  S.  Taylor,  John  Kelly,  George 
Zeller,  Matt  Walsh,  Bat  Cashman,  Henry  Drake,  Doct.  Wm.  Wood,  John  Sul- 
livan, Con  Sheehan,  Michael  Horrigan,  Michael  Galvin,  John  Pollock,  J.  Y. 
Turner,  F.  Malinski,  Peter  Neff,  C.  W.  Henderson,  Thomas  Sullivan,  Peter 
Ehs,  John  Dillon,  M.  Kobler,  Pat  Coladine,  Charles  Gayer,  Frank  Cocheran, 
Nicholas  Williams,  Peter  Donnelly,  L.  S.  Marshall,  Dennis  Coleman,  and  Geo. 
Staedtler. 

"Non-Residents  Eligible  for  Membership. — Christopher  Ledwidge,  Hickman, 
Ky. ;  Capt.  Wm.  H.  Sandusky,  Central  City,  Ky.;  Capt.  W.  J.  Stephens,  Spring- 
field, Mass.;  Isaac  Clarke,  Nashville,  111.;  Henry  Rudolph,  Evansville,  Ind. ; 
Paul  W.  Allen,  Chicago,  111.;  Joseph  Fellenbaugh,  Beech  Ridge,  111.;  Prest. 
Ex.  Norton,  L.  &  N.  R.  R.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  E.  F.  Davis,  Birmingham,  Ala.; 
David  Wright,  DuQuoin,  111. ;  H.  Watson  Webb,  San  Diego,  Cal. ;  Solomon 
Fairinbach,  Unity,  111.;  Bailey  S.  Harrell,  Cleves,  O.;  Moses  B.  Harrell,  Chi- 
cago, 111.;  N.  W.  Graham,  Carbondale,  111.;  Moses  Foss,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.; 
Thomas  Leary,  Kansas  City,  Mo.;  George  W.  Kendrick,  Charleston,  Mo.; 
James  Morris,  Ullin,  111. ;  George  McKenzie,  Dyersburg,  Tenn. ;  Julius  Shess- 
ler,  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. ;  L.  G.  Faxon,  Paducah,  Ky. ;  Isaac  Adler,  Cin- 
cinnati, O.;  Thomas  Wilson,  Villa  Ridge,  111.;  John  O'Neil,  Odin,  111.; 
John  H.  Mulkey,  Metropolis,  111.;  John  W.  Trover,  Birmingham,  Ala.;  J.  B. 
Humphreys,  Chicago,  111. ;  Wm.  Lyerley,  America,  111. ;  Geo.  W.  Reardon,  Den- 
ver, Col.;   John  Myers,  Birds  Point,   Mo.;  James  Ross,  Kansas  City,  Mo.;   Ed- 


MISCELLANEOUS  PAPERS 


273 


ward  Gray,  Cape  Girardeau,  Mo.;  W.  P.  Tiramons,  Springfield,  Mo.;  Isaac 
W.  Timmons,  Winona,  Minn.;  Wm.  Thomas,  Chicago,  111.;  Gid.  Phillips, 
Louisville,  Ky. ;  Henry  To.  Aspin,  Champaign,  111.;  Wm.  Hunt,  St.  Paul,  Tex.; 
Samuel  Tilden,  Kinmundy,  111.;  Harry  Ketchum,  New  York  City;  Robert  J. 
Hunt,  Louisville,  Ky. ;  Henry  Brown,  St.  Louis,  Mo. ;  James  Powers,  Villa 
Ridge,  111. ;  Joseph  Lufkin,  Villa  Ridge,  111. ;  Richard  Noyes,  San  Francisco, 
Cal. ;  Capt.  Ned  Kearney,  Natchez,  Miss.;  George  Bellows,  Olrastead,  111.; 
John  Henry,  Topeka,  Kan.;  John  Moley,  Kansas  City,  Mo.;  J.  H.  Knicker- 
bocker, Springfield,  111.;  W.  S.  Lane,  Mounds,  111.;  B.  F.  Parker,  Chicago,  111.; 
Mat  P.  Tilden,  Centralia,  111.;  Gotlieb  Kobler,  Grand  Tower,  111.;  Andrew 
Dole,  Grand  Tower,  111. ;  Andrew  Ritter,  Murphysboro,  111. ;  Fred  Koehler, 
Murphysboro,  111.;  Peter  Zimmerman,  Kansas  City,  Mo.;  Charles  Clarke,  St. 
Louis,  Mo. ;  Frank  Bedard,  St.  Louis,  Mo. ;  John  Devine,  Chester,  111. ;  John 
Newell,  Pres't  N.  Y.  Central;  Cornelius  Willett,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  and  Capt. 
P.  S.  Drown,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 


POLL  BOOK  OF  THE  FIRST  CITY  ELECTION,  HELD  MARCH  7,  1857 
Poll  List  City  Election 


F.  B.  Dicken 
James  Martin 
Richard  Ives 
P.   Smith 
Patrick   Green 
T.    N.    Gaffney 
Pat    Calahan 
Jno.  Mitton 
Thos.    Sullivan 
N.   C.   Bridges 
Andrew   Gary 
John    Conner 
James   Riley 
D.    Mahanny 
Mike    Fitzpatrick 
James  Mahony 
Thos.   Roach 
Mike   Gallaghan 
Wm.   H.   Scott 
Andr.   Gray 
John    Foley 
M.    O'Brien 
Thos.  Handy 
Levi    Stancill 
B.    Shannessy 
Henry  Devlin 
Thos.   Smith 
Martin   Egan 
Pat  Conner 
James   Degear 
Mike   Gary 
James   O'Conner 
Richard   Dugan 
George  Sloan 
R.   H.    Cunninghanc 
Mike    Fitzgerald 
F.  C.  Huber 
John   Stewart 
Pat  Burke 


John   O'Calahan 
James  Garland 
R.  Garland 
David   Warner 
T.   Hibbard 
William    Brown 
John  Lance 
Chas.   Dotton 
Rich'd  Nann 
David  Wright 
John    McDonald 
Moses    Foss 
James    Summerwell 
E.  Wood 
Thos.  Mehan 
C.   Buckley 
James    Dinan 
Robt.    Fisher 

E.  Hay 

F.  Cowhan 
John  Ryan 
T.    Calahan 
Mike   Gannon 
Mike   Sullivan 
Pat  Galvin 
T.  Roach 

J.   Sullivan 
I.   Walls 
W.   Crownan 
Geo.  Maguire 
Ed.  Conner 
C.    Manly 
Grundy  Bryant 
John  McGhee 
Thos.  Ryan 
Dan   Connelly 
Thos.  Devin 
John   Fitzpatrick 
Thomas   Green 


B.   Golden 

D.  Lahanahan 
W.  Clavin 

I.  A.  Kooken 
W.   I.   Morgan 
Jos.  Brankel 
Pat.    Fitzsimmons 
L.   G.   Faxon 

E.  Willett 
S.  Guthrie 
James  Quinn 
M.   Fitzgerald 
I.   M.   Moore 
James  Todd 
H.  Walker 
Wm.   Lee 
John  Powell 
J.   Twohig 
James   Crowley 

B.  Mooney 

C.  Brice 
John   Cahil 
W.   B.   Clark 
R.  Murphy 
N.   Devore 

G.  W.   McKenzie 
C.    Mornlngstar 
E.  Burns 
J.  Hogan 
John  Kelly 
J.  Johnson 
Thos.   Lane 
I.   Callett 
James    Egan 
W.   Banks 
P.    McMannanry 
W.   Cashman 
R.  Motherway 
W.   Newell 


P.  Fay 

C.  Boyle 
P.    Clevin 
J.    Dunseith 
P.   Griffin 
J.   Cain 

P.  H.  Wheeler 
W.  R.  Burke 
J.  Connell 
R.  Pyburn 
P.  C.  Cossey 
J.  Haden 
B.    Cashman 
J.  B.  Dean 
J.  Cothnie 
M.   Norris 
J.   Sullivan 

D.  McKinney 
John  Lane 

P.    Egan 
T.    Calahan 
John   D  alley 
H.   Derick 
T.  Mulroy 
John   Cullen 
P.  Doud 
P.  Dolan 
J.    Sullivan 
P.  Sweney 
W.  M.  Williams 
Charles  Johnson 
T.  J.  Wood 
John    Kahler 
A.   W.   McKay 
J.  G.  Cormick 
James   Handlin 
F.   Seavery 
John   Broderick 
Wm.  Hank 


274 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


p.  Cope 
A.  McTigue 
Con  Conners 
Wm.   Hunt 
Wm.   Elliott 
T.  Manley 

C.  Shunhge 
T.    Murphy 
Jos.   Smith 
M.   Long 
Wm.   Shea 

D.  Roach 

J.   Calleghan 
James  Caton 
J.   Lyons 
John    Sullivan 
John  Whaley 
L  L.   Harrell 
Wm.   Lonergan 
J.  W.   O'Neal 
L  Adler 
P.  W.   Allen 
M.  McKay 
P.   Neff 
P.   Doud 
Pat    O'Brien 
Mike  Welsh 
Thos.    Flynn 

A.  Kiawinkel 
S.  F.  Rand 
Jonathan  Peck 
H.  Barringer 
J.   D.   Plause 
Peter    Stapleton 
W.    Farnnur 

C.  Egeny 

J.  D.  G.  Pettijohn 
M.  Ryan 
R.  B.  Rollf 
P.  McCabe 

D.  Burke 

L  H.  Viney 
C.   Petras 
C.   Knitz 
L   Farnbaker 
Wm.   Carroll 
P.  Mcllvay 
P.   Egan 
Chas.   Coons 

C.  D.  Finch 
M.   Dignan 
M.   Thornton 

D.  Cochoran 
James  Moore 
D.   Manahan 

B.  Leifler 
Thos.   White 
D.  Stapleton 
M.   Fitzgerald 


G.  W.  Rearden 
Wm.    Simpson 
Thos.  McDeviney 
Henry  Riccord 
D.   McMurtry 
L   L.    Smith 
John  McNulty 
C.    Schmitzdorff 
F.    Osterloh 
J.   Farrell 
M.  Welsh 
S.  Crow 
James  Welsh 
H.   BourgrafiF 
A.   Mulcott 
J.  E.  Lynch 
John  Cotter 
Thos.    Mulroney 
M.  Towers 
J.  White 
M.    Mahanny 
C.   C.  Willitt 

F.  Whitcamp 
J.    Wilkins 

J.    Antrim 

J.  W.  Strawhaul 

M.   Shea 

A.   Towers 

Jno.  T.  O'Shea 

W.   Crum 

G.  L.   Rattlemiller 
M.    P.   Tilden 

M.    Griffie 

F.  Eble 
J.  White 

S.  J.  Littlefield 
Wm.   Garen 
W.  A.  Jonte 
S.   Fahrenbach 
M.  R.   Hopper 
J.   Kennedy 
Jno.   Q.   Harmon 
W.  T.  Finch 
J.  J.  Miles 
Jno.  Myers 
L.   W.   Young 
Thos.  M.  Keagny 

C.  M.  Osteloh 
M.  Reagen 

P.   Smidt 

G.  D.  Gorden 
L.  Lockeryear 
W.    Stratton 

D.  Hurd 

M.    Leftcovitch 
F.    Malinski 
T.    McCarthy 
R.  J.  Yost 
Jno.  Potts 


Arthur    James 
Benj.    Smith 
John    Greenwood 
M.   Kobbler 
Peter   Mayo 
J.    Manahan 
M.  Galvin 
E.  Burrows 
J.  W.   Green 
John   Gill 
V.  R.   Hall 
M.  W.  Parker 
H.  Gilo 
John  Maxey 
D.    C.    Stewart 
J.    H.   Kitchill 
J.  W.  Henry 
Frank    Wall 
G.  Cable 
T.    Standing 
A.  Kelly 
A.   Phelps 
M.   C.   Learey 
John   Rady 
M.  McCarty 
M.  Hunt 
H.   H.   M.   Butts 
Jos.    Lattinker 
W.   D.   Finch 
James   Mullitt 
Jacob   Witchett 
L  Maxwell 
Dan    McLaughlin 
Chas.    Gayer 

D.  B.  Powers 
Robert  Miller 
M.  Ruggaber 
Fiddle   Fry 

John   Petercumber 
M.   G.  Stokes 
A.    H.    Fletcher 
H.   Doyle 
K.  Brophey 
Julius   Schusler 
Henry   Myers 
Jacob   Fry 
J.  H.  Lufkin 
C.   F.   Watson 
C.   Steigler 
Jno.    Howley 
Jno.   Reed 
Jno.   Costin 
A.   Pickman 
T.   Radigan 
C.    A.   Whaley 
T.   Smith 
W.   C.  Lewis 
A.  Ritter 

E.  Babbs 


G.   R.   Hunt 
Roger  Finn 
J.   W.  Ritter 
H.    Rodoflf 
N.  Yocum 
M.    Hogan 
H.   H.   Davis 
W.    Pinkston 

F.  Knowles 

O.   P.    Carnahan 
L   Lee 

J.   C.  White 
John   King 
A.    Slick 
R.  J.  Billington 
R.    D.    Campbell 
John   Cannon 
James  Eightman 
D.   Divine 
M.  Phillips 
R.   C.   Kieley 
W.   C.   Sanders 
A.  T.  Smith 

G.  A.  Phillips 
W.   Drumer 
Mike    Quinn 
L   Lehning 
John    Hendricks 
H.   Whitcamp 
C.  Benjamin 

O.  Sullivan 
S.  Rhino 
A.    Mann 
A.  Williams 
Henry    Harris 
Fred  Tobener 
J.   F.   Aubry 
J.   Wehn 
Wm.   Little 
G.    Gattin 
P.    Broderick 
John  Billings 
Jno.  W.  Stewart 
Jno.    Scheel 
J.  Rigney 
R.    T.    Napoleon 
W.  J.  Stephens 
F.  Bross 
C.   Kobler 
S.   O'Conner 
Geo.  Poor 
C.  Henderson 
A.  D.  Finch 
Jacob  Grunder 
P.   Corcoran 
S.   Tilden 
Thos  Wilson 
H.  H.   Candee 


MISCELLANEOUS   PAPERS  275 


At  an  election  held  in  the  City  of  Cairo,  in  the  County  of  Alexander  and 
State  of  Illinois,  on  the  Seventh  day  of  March,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty-seven  the  following  named  persons  received  the  number  of 
votes  annexed  to  their  respective  names,  for  the  following  described  offices  to- 
wit:  For  mayor  S.  S.  Taylor  received  211  votes,  W.  J.  Stephens  159  votes,  and 
I.  N.  Haynie  i  vote.  For  alderman  for  first  ward,  John  Howley  received  121 
votes,  P.  "Stapleton  75  votes,  P.  Burke  65  votes,  C.  M.  Osterloh  64  votes,  T.  Wil- 
son 63  votes,  J.  Cotter  61  votes,  G.  W.  McKenzie  50  votes,  J.  Greenwood  31  votes, 
H.  H.  Candee  70  votes,  J.  Littlefield  9  votes,  W.  D.  Finch  3  votes,  A.  Williams  2 
votes,  D.  Burke  i  vote,  W.  M.  Williams  i  vote,  S.  S.  Taylor  i  vote,  H.  F.  Aspen 
I  vote,  H.  Barringer  1  vote,  Jas.  Stewart  i  vote,  and  Pat.  Smith  i  vote.  For 
alderman  for  second  ward  H.  Whitcamp  received  49  votes,  P.  Neff  51  votes, 
H.  H.  Cunningham  44  votes,  R.  Frim  44  votes,  J.  Antrim  41  votes,  and  G.  W. 
Rearden  39  votes.  For  alderman  for  third  ward  C.  A.  Whaley  received  65 
votes,  C.  Manley  43  votes,  M.  Egan  43  votes,  L.  G.  Faxon  31  votes,  Jas.  Sum- 
merwell  27  votes,  and  M.  Foss  18  votes.  For  alderman  for  fourth  ward  Wm. 
Standing  received  47  votes,  T.  N.  Gaffney  44  votes,  and  L.  B.  Perkins  3   votes. 

Certified  by  P.  Corcoran,  Thos.  Wilson  and  Samuel  Tilden,  Judges  of  the 
Election.    Attested  by  H.  H.  Candee  and  Geo.  Killogg,  Clerks  of  the  Election. 

Citizens  of  Cairo,  Biographical  Sketches  of  Whom  are  Contained  in  the 
Following  Books: 

In  "Biographical  Encyclopedia  of  Illinois,"  /575.— Judge  William  J.  Allen, 
Judge  David  J.  Baker,  Judge  Fredolin  Bross,  George  Fisher,  Judge  William  H. 
Green,  David  T.  Linegar,  Daniel  W.  Munn,  Alfred  B.  Safford  and  Horace 
Wardner. 

In  the  "United  States  Biographical  Dictionary  for  Illinois,"  1876. — Judge 
David  J.  Baker,  Judge  Fredolin  Bross,  Robert  H.  Cunningham,  George  Fisher, 
Charles  Galigher,  Judge  William  H.  Green,  William  B.  Gilbert,  Miles  F.  Gilbert, 
John  D.  Gillham,  James  Johnson,  George  E.  Lounsbury,  John  H.  Oberly,  Charles 
O.  Patier,  Joe  M.  Phillips,  Horace  Wardner,  Samuel  P.  Wheeler  and  Henry 
Winter. 

In  General  John  M.  Palmer's  "Bench  and  Bar  of  Illinois,"  1899. — Judge  Wil- 
liam N.  Butler,  Judge  William  S.  Dewey,  Miles  F.  Gilbert,  Judge  William  H. 
Green,  John  M.  Lansden,  Ju3ge  John  H.  Mulkey  and  Judge  Joseph  P.  Robarts. 

In  "Historical  Encyclopedia  of  Illinois,"  /poo.— Judge  William  J.  Allen, 
Judge  William  H.  Green,  Judge  Isham  N.  Haynie  and  Daniel  W.  Munn. 

In  "Memoirs  of  the  Loijaer  Ohio  Valley,"  /poj.— Belfield  B.  Bradley,  George  J. 
Becker,  Edv.'ard  A.  Buder,  Eberhard  Bucher,  Christopher  Beck,  Judge  William  N. 
Butler,'  Lee  B.  Davis,  Edmund  S.  Dewey,  Anthony  P.  Ehs,  Charles  Feuchter, 
Mrs.  M.  E.  Feith,  James  H.  Galligan,  William  B.  Gilbert,  Miles  F.  Gilbert, 
Miles  S.  Gilbert,  William  C.  Gilbert,  Barry  Gilbert,  Reed  Green,  William  P. 
Greaney,  John  B.  Greanev,  Charles  E.  Gregory,  Major  Edwin  W.  Halliday, 
Henry  L.  Halliday,  Henry  E.  Halliday,  Douglas  Halliday,  John  Hodges,  Samuel 
Hastings,  John  J.  Jennelle,  William  Kluge,  John  M.  Lansden,  John  A.  Miller, 
L.  P.  Parker,  George  H.  Pendleton,  Joseph  B.  Reed,  John  T.  Rennie,  Ernest  H. 
Riggle,  James  S.  Roach,  H.  T.  Stephens,  Elmer  Smith,  Joseph  Steagala,  Joseph 
W.  Wenger  and  Benjamin   F.  Woodward. 

Names  of  Citizens  of  Cairo,  Biographical  Sketches  of  Whom  are  Found 
IN  the  Large  County  History.  A  Few  of  Them  are  in  Part  I,  and  the  Re- 
mainder IN  Part  V,  in  Alphabetical  Order  as  Given  Therein: 

Willliam  Alba,  Conrad  Alba,  George  M.  Alden,  Judge  William  J.  Allen, 
John  Antrim,  Dr.  Daniel  Arter,  Robert  H.  Baird,  Sanford  P.  Bennett,  Adolph 
Black,  Byron  F.  Blake,  Henry  Block,  Herman  Bloms,  Walter  L.  Bristol,  Edward 


276 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


A.  Buder,  Henry  Hinsdale  Candee,  Andrew  J.  Carle,  William  G.  Gary,  Ben- 
jamin E.  Clark,  Jefferson  M.  Clark,  Albert  C.  Coleman,  William  M.  Davidson, 
Gideon  Desrocher,  Charles  W.  Dunning,  William  Eichhoff,  Eugene  E.  Ellis,  Isaac 
Farnbaker,  George  Fisher,  Nicholas  Feith,  Judge  Miles  A.  Gilbert,  Hon.  Wil- 
liam B.  Gilbert,  Hon.  Miles  F.  Gilbert,  Jacob  A.  Goldstine,  J.  J.  Gordon,  Judge 
Wiliam  H.  Green,  Horace  A.  Hannon,  A.  Halley,  Edgar  C.  Harrell,  George 
W.  Henricks,  Jesse  Hinkle,  John  Hodges,  John  Howley,  Cicero  N.  Hughes, 
Jacob  Klein,  Francis  Kline,  William  Kluge,  Michael  Kobler,  Christian  Koch, 
John  Koehler,  John  A.  Koehler,  Frederick  Korsmeyer,  Frank  Kratky,  Charles 
Lame,  Charles  Lancaster,  Thomas  Lewis,  Hon.  David  T.  Linegar,  Andrew  Lohr, 
William  Lonergan,  William  Ludwig,  Jacob  Martin,  James  S.  McGahey,  James 
W.  McKinney,  Herman  Meyers,  Judge  John  A.  Mulkey,  William  M.  Murphy, 
Peter  Neff,  Judge  H.  K.  S.  O'Melveny,  George  F.  Ort,  Christopher  M.  Osterloh, 
Miles  W.  Parker,  Charles  O.  Patier,  Alamanzer  O.  Phelps,  George  B.  Poor, 
Thomas  Porter,  Nathaniel  Prouty,  John  T.  Rennie,  Wood  Rittenhouse,  Joseph  H. 
Rittenhouse,  John  H.  Robinson,  Samuel  Rosenwater,  James  Ross,  Alfred  Board- 
man  Safford,  Herman  Sander,  William  G.  Sandusky,  Peter  Saup,  Sol.  A.  Silver, 
Paul  G.  Schuh,  James  R.  Smith,  Robert  Smyth,  George  W.  Strode,  Frank  W. 
Stophlet,  Simpson  H.  Taber,  James  M.  Totten,  Francis  Vincent,  Harry  Walker, 
Judge  George  W.  Wall,  Tacob  Walter,  Henry  Wells,  Samuel  P.  Wheeler, 
Charles  W.  Wheeler,  Scott  White,  Dr.  E.  W.  Whitlock,  William  M.  Williams, 
George  D.  Williamson,  Thomas  Wilson,  Henry  Winter,  Maj.  William  Wolfe, 
William  Wood,  John  Wood,  C.  R.  Woodward,  Judge  Reuben  S.  Yocum. 

Persons  Resident  in  Cairo  January  First,  1910,  Who  Were  Residents  Prior 

TO  1861 
Mrs.  Mary  Axley,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Arter,  Charles  F.  Arter,  John  M.  Antrim, 
Mrs.  Marie  Bouchet,  Jean  Bouchet,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Byrne,  Mrs.  Fransina  Baird, 
Henry  Baird,  Mrs.  Mary  Barry,  Herman  F.  Brinkmeyer,  Frank  Bemis,  Chris 
Bemis,  Mrs.  George  Clark,  Mrs.  Mary  Cannon,  Mrs.  Mary  Cuhl,  Mrs.  M.  Ca- 
hill,  Pat  Cahill,  Mrs.  Lizzie  Collins,  Dan.  Callahan,  John  Clancy,  John  C.  Crow- 
ley, Frank  Carle,  Mrs.  Julia  Davis,  Mrs.  Peter  Donnelly,  Michael  Driscoll,  Mrs. 
Mary  Ehlman,  Charles  Eichhoff,  Mrs.  Angeline  Fry,  Frank  Fry,  George  M. 
Fry,  John  W.  C.  Fry,  Mrs.  Anna  Feuchter,  Mrs.  Wilhelmina  Frank,  Maurice 
J.  Farnbaker,  Sol.  Farnbaker,  Mrs.  Annie  M.  Guion,  Mrs.  John  Glade, 
Mrs.  Anastasia  Gayer,  Mrs.  Josephine  Gilhofer,  Mrs.  Ann  Gorman,  Charles 
Galigher,  John  P.  Glynn,  William  B.  Gilbert,  Mrs.  Henry  Hixon,  Henry  Hixon, 
Mrs.  Mary  A.  Howley,  Mrs.  A.  Halley,  Mrs.  Fred  Hofheinz,  Mrs.  Lizzie  Hub- 
bard, Horace  A.  Hannon,  Charles  W.  Henderson,  Daniel  Hartman,  John  Hogan, 
John  P.  Hogan,  John  S.  Hacker,  James  Higlen,  John  Haffley,  Mrs.  A.  M.  Koch, 
Mrs.  Louisa  Kleb,  Mrs.  Mary  Kline,  William  Kluge,  George  G.  Koehler,  Louis 
H.  Kaha,  Mrs.  Catherine  Lincoln,  Mrs.  Margaret  Lampert,  Mrs.  Mary  A. 
Loflin,  Mrs.  Georgia  Lippitt,  Phil  Lehning,  Sr.,  Jacob  Lehning,  Andrew  Lohr, 
Mrs.  Xavier  Martin,  Miss  Anna  Malinski,  Mrs.  Susan  Malinski,  Mrs.  Isabel 
Marston,  Thomas  Meehan,  Patrick  Mahoney,  A.  McTigue,  Calvin  V.  Neff,  A. 
William  Neff,  Mrs.  John  O'Shea,  Mrs.  Catherine  Osterloh,  Charles  Osterloh, 
Samuel  Orr,  Mrs.  Henry  C.  Partee,  Henry  C.  Partee,  Patrick  J.  Purcell,  Nathaniel 
Prouty,  James  Quinn,  Mrs.  Katherine  Smith,  Mrs.  Frances  Stewart,  Mrs.  Hannah 
Sullivan,  Mrs.  Anna  E.  Safford,  Mrs.  Hulda  Steagala,  Mrs.  M.  Summerwell,  Mrs. 
Kate  Stapleton,  Mrs.  Hermine  Schulze,  Mrs.  Margaret  Smith,  John  Sullivan,  John 
Sheehan,  William  H.  Sexton,  Con  Sheehan,  Peter  Saup,  Thomas  J.  Sloo,  Egbert 
A.  Smith,  Cyrus  Smith,  Julius  Serbian,  Mrs.  James  Tuttle,  Mrs.  Kate  Thomas, 
John  Y.  Turner,  Mrs.  Virginia  Vincent,  Henry  Vincent,  Minnie  Vincent,  Mrs. 
Felitza  Walder,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Walsh,  Miss  Josie  Winter,  Gus  Winter,  Claude 
Winter,  William  Winter,  Mrs.  L.  E.  Williamson,  Mrs.  Kate  Wentworth,  Mrs. 
Nick  Williams,  Gus  Williams,  William  M.  Williams,  George  Wilson,  William 
White,  Isaac  Walder,  George  Yocum.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Smith)  Walsh  has  the 
distinction  of  having  resided  in  Cairo  longer  than  any  other  person  now  here. 
According  to  the  records  of  St.  Patrick's  Church,  she  was  born  July  14,  1843. 


MISCELLANEOUS  PAPERS 277 

The  Lynchings  of  William  James^  a  Colored  Man^  and  of 
Henry  Salzner,  a  White  Man,  on  the  Night  of  November  ii, 
1909,  James  for  assaulting  and  then  murdering  Anna  Pelly,  a  young 
white  woman,  on  the  night  of  November  8,  1909,  and  Salzner  for  the 
alleged  murder  of  Mary  Salzner,  his  wife,  on  the  i8th  day  of  August, 
1909.  This  occurrence  so  revived  in  the  minds  of  the  public  every- 
where the  fact  that  Cairo  had  long  borne  a  hard  name  that  it  seems 
proper  for  me  to  speak  of  it  in  this  chapter,  much  as  I  would  like  to  pass 
it  by.  Such  an  event,  adding  to  the  notoriety  of  the  city  and  followed 
so  soon  by  its  very  natural  results,  could  not  be  left  unnoticed  by  any 
one  pretending  to  write  a  history  of  the  city.  I  cannot  do  more,  how- 
ever, than  to  give  a  very  condensed  statement  of  the  facts.  James 
had  lived  in  Cairo  a  number  of  years  and  was  at  the  time  engaged  in 
driving  a  team  for  one  of  the  business  houses  of  the  city.  He  was  an 
unusually  muscular  and  strong  man,  and  above  the  average  in  intelli- 
gence for  one  of  his  race.  He  seems  to  have  lain  in  wait  for  his  victim 
and  to  have  seized  her  within  a  rod  or  two  of  her  home  and  carried 
her  into  an  unfrequented  alley,  two  or  three  hundred  feet  distant,  and 
there  choked  her  to  death  by  the  use  of  pieces  of  a  flour  sack.  She 
was  employed  as  a  saleswoman  in  a  dry-goods  store  in  the  city,  and  was 
last  seen  as  she  alighted  from  a  street  car  two  or  three  blocks  from  her 
home.  It  was  early  in  the  evening,  but  dark  and  raining.  The  family 
supposed  she  had  gone  to  spend  the  night  with  one  of  her  young  lady 
friends  and  the  crime  was  not  discovered  until  the  next  morning.  I 
cannot  give  the  details  of  the  search  with  the  aid  of  blood-hounds  nor 
of  the  arrest  of  James  and  of  the  two  colored  women  at  whose  houses 
he  spent  parts  of  Monday  night,  nor  of  the  statements  of  one  of  them 
respecting  pieces  of  flour  sacks  similar  to  those  found  at  the  place  of 
the  crime  and  at  the  undertaker's.  For  very  full  information,  see  the 
"Cairo  Bulletin"  and  the  "Evening  Citizen"  of  November  9th,  lOth,  nth 
and  1 2th,  1909.  He  and  the  colored  women  denied  knowledge  of 
the  crime.  He  was  held  by  the  police  the  remainder  of  Tuesday  and 
until  the  evening  of  Wednesday,  when  they  delivered  him  into  the 
custody  of  Sheriff  Frank  E.  Davis,  who,  fearing  mob  violence,  at  once 
took  him  from  the  city  on  an  Illinois  Central  train.  He  left  the  train  at 
Dongola,  twenty-seven  miles  north  of  Cairo,  fearing  violence  from 
assemblying  people  at  Anna,  where  Miss  Pelly  had  formerly  lived. 
He  went  eastward  with  the  intention  of  reaching  and  taking  a  train 
on  the  Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Railway;  but  before 
he  could  do  so,  he  was  intercepted  by  a  mob  from  Cairo,  which  had 
seized  a  train  of  the  railroad  company  and  gone  up  the  road  to  the 
place  they  were  told  he  was  approaching.  They  found  the  sheriff,  his 
deputy,  Thomas  A.  Fuller,  and  the  prisoner  in  the  woods  near  the 
railroad,  and  taking  the  prisoner  from  them  brought  him  to  Cairo  and 
to  the  intersection  of  Commercial  Avenue  and  Eighth  Street,  and  there, 
after  trying  to  hang  him  to  the  steel  arches  spanning  the  intersection 
of  those  streets  and  finding  it  slow  and  difficult  work,  they  shot  him  to 
death,  and  then  dragged  the  body  to  the  place  of  the  crime,  a  mile 


278 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

distant,  and  there  burned  it.  Proceeding  thence  to  the  court-house, 
on  Twentieth  Street,  where  Salzner  was  confined  on  an  indictment 
charging  him  with  the  murder  of  Mrs.  Salzner,  they  broke  down  his 
cell  and  took  him  a  square  or  two  distant  and  there  hung  him  to  a 
telegraph  pole,  and  then  after  shooting  the  body  many  times,  they  dis- 
persed. It  may  be  stated  here,  but  of  course  for  no  purpose  of  extenua- 
tion, that  no  one  else  was  molested,  nor  was  any  property  injured,  save 
the  injury  and  damage  at  the  court-house. 

The  news  of  the  crime  and  the  search  for  the  criminal  spread  rapidly 
over  the  adjacent  country'  and  brought  to  Cairo  large  numbers  of  people, 
too  many  of  whom  were  quite  ready  to  join  the  Cairo  contingent  for 
purposes  of  vengeance.  The  numbers  increased  during  the  Jong  three 
days,  but  little  was  done  to  counteract  the  constantly  growing  feeling 
that  the  severest  punishment  should  be  dealt  out  to  the  criminal  and  in 
the  most  summary  way.  The  number  of  the  leaders  and  active  mem- 
bers of  the  mob  was  very  large  and  probably  about  equally  composed 
of  men  of  Illinois,  Kentucky  and  Missouri. 

James  seems  to  have  confessed  to  no  one  but  members  of  the  mob, 
and  not  fully  to  any  of  them.  The  most  he  said  seems  to  have  been 
that  he  was  not  the  only  guilty  person.  He  may  have  named  Alexander 
as  a  partner  in  his  crime.  No  large  number  of  people  in  the  city 
regretted  the  mob's  disposition  of  James.  A  like,  but  a  somewhat 
modified  statement,  may  be  made  relative  to  Salzner,  The  horror 
of  James'  crime  seemed  to  touch  everj^  home  in  the  city.  What  processes 
of  reasoning  hurried  through  the  minds  of  the  people  it  is  useless  to 
conjecture.  What  they  thought  about  the  law  taking  its  course,^  or 
about  the  thwarting  of  the  law,  or  the  slow  and  uncertain  proceedings 
of  the  courts  and  the  failures  of  justice  therein,  or  of  the  dangers 
white  women  were  in  from  the  debased  negroes  of  the  town,  is  also 
conjectural.  To  their  one  question,  what  would  you  do  had  she  been 
your  daughter  they  wanted  no  reply  nor  did  they  often  get  any.  Many 
persons  think  themselves  able  to  state  the  one  single  cause  of  an  event, 
when  in  fact  there  may  have  been  many.  In  this  case,  there  were 
probably  many  causes  tending  to  produce  the  mob-like  feeling  in  the 
minds  of  many  people;  but  the  fact  that  the  victim  was  a  young  white 
woman  and  the  assailant  and  murderer  a  black  brute  of  the  cit)^  would 
have  put  a  strain  upon  any  community  not  altogether  congealed  in  its 
own  complaisant  self-sufliciency. 

After  a  calamity,  it  is  always  easy  to  tell  what  should  have  been 
done  to  prevent  it.  Had  the  persons  criticized  been  given  the  oppor- 
tunity of  viewing  the  matter  just  as  their  critics  had,  there  would  have 
been  little  or  no  room  for  criticism.  This  was  the  first  occurrence  of 
the  kind  in  the  c'm  of  Cairo.  The  Joe  Spencer  affair  of  1855,  detailed 
in  Moses  B.  Harrell's  history  and  the  "History  of  Alexander,  Union 
and  Pulaski  Counties,"  could  not  be  called  a  lynching  in  any  sense  of  the 

word. 

All  that  can  be  justly  said  in  criticism  of  the  cit)^  and  county  officers 
is  that  they  should  have  expected  a  mob  almost  from  the  outstart.    They 


MISCELLANEOUS  PAPERS  279 

were  intent  on  finding  the  criminal  but  seem  to  have  overlooked  the 
matter  of  his  protection  when  found.  This  should  have  gone  along 
with  everj^  step  of  their  search.  They  should  have  known  better  than 
others  the  state  of  feeling  in  the  city.  James  could  not  have  been 
gotten  away  too  soon.  His  arrest  and  detention  here  three  days  and 
then  his  taking  from  the  city  convinced  the  gathering  mob  that  the  officers 
regarded  him  as  the  criminal.  The  crime  was  so  horrid,  so  fiendish, 
so  like  the  crime  of  Seay  J.  Miller,  the  Springfield  negro,  who  killed 
the  two  Ray  daughters  down  in  Kentucky  just  north  of  Bardwell  July 
7,  1893,  that  they  should  have  known  the  impossibility  of  their  pro- 
tecting James  when  it  became  known  that  he  was  probably  the  guilty 
person.  Governor  Deneen,  it  may  also  be  remarked,  might  have  been 
called  upon  much  sooner. 

We  need  not  comment  upon  the  evil  that  comes  to  communities  which 
tolerate  or  connive  at  mob  violence.  Salzner,  who  had  been  in  jail  for 
a  long  time  and  whose  crime,  whatever  it  was,  was  generally  and  fully 
known,  would  not  have  been  lynched  had  not  the  mob  lynched  James; 
nor  would  the  attempted  lynching  of  the  negro  John  Pratt  have  taken 
place  in  Februarj^  1910,  and  the  consequent  loss  of  life  in  the  attempt, 
had  not  the  lynchings  in  November  occurred.  These  occurrences  of  No- 
vember and  February,  and  the  divers  and  sundry  results  growing  out  of 
them,  together  with  the  opprobrium  cast  upon  our  city,  set  before  us 
in  the  clearest  light  the  evil  that  flows  from  a  community  taking  or 
allowing  others  to  take  the  law  into  their  own  hands.  The  solecism 
of  attempting  to  enforce  the  law  by  its  most  flagrant  violation  is  too 
obvious  for  comment. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

CAIRO  AS  A  BUSINESS  PLACE  OR  POINT — THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CITY 

THE  geographical  position  of  Cairo  is  certainly  as  favorable  for 
business  purposes  as  nature  has  anywhere  afforded  the  people  of 
the  country,  at  least  so  far  as  inland  points  are  concerned.  The 
low  site  and  the  abrading  rivers  have  been  great  drawbacks.  As  to 
these  features  of  our  situation,  it  has  always  been  a  question  of  money, 
much  money,  to  put  us  on  an  equality  with  other  places.  They  have 
no  doubt  turned  away  men  and  capital,  which  would  have  sought  the 
place  time  and  time  again,  had  these  deterrent  causes  not  existed.  They 
have  always  been  with  us  and  will  so  continue,  until  we  attain  such 
strength  in  population  and  wealth  as  will  make  the  burden  to  counter- 
act them  comparatively  light.  They  are  great  disadvantages,  clearly 
seen  to  be  such,  when  we  consider  what  the  situation  would  be,  had 
there  been  a  higher  and  an  unyielding  point  of  land  here.  This  was  the 
reason  given  by  General  George  Rogers  Clark  in  1779  for  establishing 
Fort  Jefferson  on  the  Kentucky  side  just  below  us  instead  of  at  this 
place.  But  after  all,  the  advantages  of  the  location  will  always  out- 
weigh its  disadvantages,  although  the  same  have  long  seemed  to  be 
about  equally  balanced. 

A  sufficient  time  has  elapsed  to  show  that  Cairo  is  a  good  business 
point.  Its  trade  has  been  and  is  chiefly  with  the  south.  It  is  largely 
a  southern  city.  Its  local  trade  has  never  been  large.  What  the 
prosperous  and  strong  cities  of  other  parts  of  the  state  have  had  as 
their  chief  and  sometimes  their  sole  reliance,  we  have  had  here  in  the 
minimum.  The  rivers  have  their  advantages.  They  make  Cairo  what 
it  is;  but  they  have  been  as  walls  encompassing  the  city  and  shutting 
out  local  trade,  which  would  otherwise  have  been  a  constant  source 
of  growth  and  prosperity.  Every  stranger  remarks  upon  the  fine,  not 
to  say  the  wonderful  geographical  position,  and  ask  why  there  isn't  a 
largei  even  a  great  city  here.  Cairo  business  men  express  different 
views  about  the  matter.  The)'  concede  that  the  question  is  a  very  per- 
tinent one,  but  their  answers  are  sometimes  far  from  satisfactor\\  Let 
me  give  here  a  few  lines  from  a  man  who  was  here  during  the  Avar, 
and  who  a  few  years  since  wrote  a  fine  book  in  which  Cairo  is  often 
mentioned.  General  Clark  E.  Carr,  in  "The  Illini,"  heretofore  quoted 
from,  writes  as  follows,  on  pages  19,  20  and  418 : 

"  'So  you  think.  General,  that  Chicago  will  be  the  great  city  of 
Illinois,'  my  father  asked.  'Not  at  all,  sir,  not  at  all.  Chicago  will 
be  a  great  city,  but  Cairo  will  be  the  great  city.     Look  at  her  position, 

280 


CAIRO  AS  A  BUSINESS  PLACE 281^ 

on  the  great  Father  of  Waters,  at  its  confluence  with  the  Ohio !  Think 
of  the  trade  and  commerce  that  is  already  coming  up  the  Mississippi 
from  New  Orleans  and  all  the  parts  of  the  south.  Think  of  all  that 
comes  down  the  Ohio  from  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  and  Louisville,  and 
the  other  cities,  besides  what  comes  from  the  Tennessee  and  Cumber- 
land. Think  of  all  that  will  come  down  from  the  upper  Mississippi 
and  the  Missouri; — and  all  this  to  meet  at  Cairo!  It  will  be  the 
largest  city  on  this  continent;  and  the  time  is  sure  to  come  when  Cairo 
will  be  the  largest  city  in  the  world.'  " 

"As  we  rounded  the  point  at  Cairo  into  the  Ohio  River,  I  asked  the 
General  if  he  remembered  prophesying,  on  our  boat  trip  around  the 
lakes,  that  Cairo  would  be  a  great  city.  'That  was  before  the  days  of 
railways,'  he  replied.  'Had  there  been  no  railways,  my  prophesy  would 
have  proven  correct.  Cairo  possesses  more  natural  advantages  for 
inland  water  transportation  than  any  other  of  the  west ;  but  the  railways 
have  taken  the  business  elsewhere.  There  is  another  thing  in  which  I  was 
mistaken.  I  thought  the  great  prairies  could  never  be  settled,  and  if 
they  were,  the  prairie  land  would  be  worth  far  less  than  the  timber 
land.  It  now  seems  that  we  were  all  mistaken,  and  that  the  prairies 
could  all  be  brought  under  cultivation,  and  that  the  best  lands  are  the 
prairie  lands.'  " 

How  much  of  General  Carr's  book  is  matter  of  fact  and  how  much 
is  matter  of  fiction  I  do  not  know.  I  give  the  above  simply  as  another 
strong  evidence  of  what  the  expectations  of  the  public  were  regarding 
our  city  of  Cairo,  which  has  proved  such  a  disappointment  to  so  many 
people  and  for  so  long  a  time.  The  time  has  probably  passed  for  rna.k- 
ing  Cairo  a  great  or  a  relatively  large  city.  Time  and  opportunities 
for  cities,  like  time  and  opportunities  for  individuals,  pass  by.  Large 
cities  absorb,  not  to  say  exhaust,  the  population  of  large  districts  of 
country  and  therefore  large  cities  are  found  only  at  considerable  dis- 
tances apart.  There  are  too  many  large  cities,  comparatively,  near  us 
now  to  justify  any  hope  that  Cairo  will  ever  attain  to  anything  like 
what  was  expected  of  it  half  a  century  ago.  All  that  can  be  hoped  for 
now  is  a  wholesome  steady  growth,  which  will  assure  a  population  and 
business  that  can  give  it  something  of  a  commanding  place  among  the 
more  important  cities  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

Further  than  as  just  stated,  we  cannot  venture  an  opinion  about  the 
future  of  the  city,  except  only  to  point  to  the  picture  of^  the  Concord 
facing  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  That  war  vessel  in  the  harbor 
means  only  one  thing  to  us,  and  that  is,  that  if_  the  Mississippi  River 
were  deepened  or  otherwise  improved,  as  the  interests  of  this  great 
valley  seem  to  require,  instead  of  one  sea-going  vessel  seen  in  our  harbor 
here,  there  would  be  a  score  of  them.  The  river  should  be  what  it 
is  not  now,  a  great  commercial  highway,  worthy  of  the  twenty-five 
states  whose  waters  it  carries  to  the  sea. 


282 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

There  is  now  no  probability  that  the  site  of  the  city  will  ever  be 
raised  to  or  near  to  the  level  of  the  surrounding  levees,  as  was  urged 
by  Judge  Miles  A.  Gilbert  and  was  for  a  while  intended  fifty  to  sixty 
years  ago;  and  hence  the  imperative  need  of  their  maintenance  to  a 
grade  above  any  and  all  floods.  What  these  may  be,  or  how  high  they 
may  rise,  no  one  can  tell.  There  are  many  contingencies.  For  the 
maintenance  of  the  levees  we  may  regard  ourselves  as  amply  able;  but 
there  is  another  matter  of  much  greater  importance;  and  that  is,  the 
safe  maintenance  of  the  site  of  the  city  against  abrasion  by  the  rivers. 
I  have  spoken  of  this  once  or  twice  elsewhere.  It  should  be  kept 
constantly  in  mind  as  the  first  of  all  things  concerning  our  city.  While 
we  will  be  able  to  bear,  from  time  to  time,  a  certain  part  of  the  expense 
incident  to  the  preservation  to  the  river  banks  or  shores,  the  erosion 
may  at  times  become  so  great  as  to  require  government  aid.  We  hardly 
know  what  we  would  have  done  or  how  we  would  have  escaped,  had 
not  the  government  come  to  our  aid  thirty  to  thirty-five  years  ago,  and 
at  later  times.  We  can  in  most  cases  depend,  I  suppose,  upon  such  aid ; 
but  that  we  should  need  it  at  all  or  at  any  time  is  not  a  ver>'  pleasant 
contemplation.  Our  interests  may  now  and  then  be  regarded  by  the 
government  authorities  as  differing  from  the  interests  of  navigation  or 
river  improvement.  Our  stone  wall  fronting  the  Ohio  reminds  us  that 
our  whole  attention  must  not  be  given  to  the  Mississippi ;  but  the  latter 
river  is  by  far  the  chief  source  of  concern.  Its  long  straight  stretch 
toward  us,  for  miles  above  the  city,  presents  a  kind  of  threatening 
aspect  that  we  would  be  glad  to  see  changed.  It  has  moved  backward 
and  forward,  now  away  from  us  and  again  toward  us,  but  its  general 
tendency,  for  seventy-five  years,  has  been  to  the  eastward.  Pushed 
over  to  the  west  or  prevented  from  moving  eastward,  the  great  river 
has  turned  somewhat  aside  and  to  the  south  and  has  been  for  years 
devouring  the  Missouri  shore  and  uniting  with  the  Ohio  further  down. 
I  do  not  know  that  it  is  so;  but  it  would  seem  that  there  is  a  tendency 
of  uniting  rivers  to  move  their  point  of  junction  further  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  united  streams.  If  this  is  true,  and  there  are  no  other  inter- 
vening causes,  the  Mississippi  will  continue  to  draw  the  junction  point 
further  to  the  southward,  leaving  the  Egbert  A.  Smith  possessions  entirely 
undisturbed  This  may  somewhat  relieve  the  pressure  upon  our  western 
and  most  threatened  border.  But  it  is  very  conjectural,  indeed. 
When  one  takes  a  map  or  chart  of  the  Mississippi  River,  he  will  see 
both  above  and  below  us  that  there  is  no  discoverable  rule  of  movement 
in  that  great  river.  Bend  after  bend,  of  varying  lengths,  even^^here 
appear,  defying  all  reasons  for  their  existence. 

There  are,  however,  so  many  interests  represented  here  now  that 
we  can  safely  hope  that  all  the  needed  aid  will  be  forthcoming  in 
ample  time.  The  large  interests  of  the  government  and  those  of  the 
great  railroad  companies,  not  to  mention  any  other  sources  of  power  and 
influence,  ought  to  forbid  any  serious  apprehension  of  danger.  And 
yet  our  location  or  situation  is  highly  peculiar,  and  requires  from  us  an 


CAIRO  AS  A  BUSINESS  PLACE  283 

attention  and  care,  from  which  almost  all  other  places  in  the  country 
are  free. 

If  we  discharge  faithfully  our  duty  in  respect  to  our  levees  and 
river  banks,  we  can  safely  depend  upon  the  general  movement  of  things 
elsewhere  and  quite  beyond  us  for  our  much  greater  growth,  if  such 
we  are  to  have.  River  improvement  on  a  large  scale  is  seemingly  grow- 
ing in  favor,  and  should  it  materialize  in  proportion  to  its  importance, 
Cairo  may  well  hope  to  share  more  largely  in  its  benefits  than  almost 
any  other  city  in  the  great  valley.  It  is  not,  however,  very  clear,  at 
this  time,  that  a  depth  of  fourteen  feet,  or  anything  close  thereto,  can 
be  had  and  maintained  to  points  north  of  us,  or  even  to  this  place,  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  country  at  large,  whose  means  are  to  be  devoted 
to  the  enterprise.  It  will  be  a  great  valley  movement  in  which  our 
own  interests  here  will  be  regarded  as  merely  incidental — incidental, 
it  is  true,  but  great,  nevertheless.  It  will  not  be  long  until  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi  contains  a  population  as  large  as  the  present  popula- 
tion of  the  whole  countrj^ — a  hundred  millions  and  Illinois  ten  millions 
thereof.  This  may  be  too  far  hence  to  be  made  much  of  now;  but  we 
hope  this  for  the  future  of  our  city. 

It  would  be  wrong  for  me  to  omit  saying  that  Cairo's  future  depends, 
in  one  important  sense  at  least,  upon  the  people  of  the  city  themselves. 
They  cannot  change  its  geographical  features,  nor  its  topographical 
features  very  much ;  but  they  can  and  should  make  it  a  place  from  which 
good  and  desirable  people  will  not  turn  away  except  for  business  rea- 
sons or  supposed  business  disadvantages. 

I  have  desired  to  keep  the  size  of  this  book  down  to  verj^  moderate 
proportions,  but  have  not  been  able  to  do  so.  It  seems  large  for  the 
size  of  the  city;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  while  a  small  city  it 
has  had  quite  a  remarkable  history.  Few  cities  of  the  state  have  been 
the  objects  of  more  legislation  or  of  more  documentary  transactions  of 
almost  every  kind.  It  is  the  history  of  three  several  attempts  to  start 
a  city,  one  in  18 18,  one  in  1836,  and  one  in  1846,  out  of  the  latter  of 
which  the  present  city  has  grown.  Had  I  used  all  the  materials  col- 
lected and  which  might  well  have  found  a  place  in  the  book  it  would 
have  been  very  much  larger.  I  may  also  add  that  I  have  probably, 
here  and  there,  devoted  too  much  space  to  certain  matters  and  too  little 
or  perhaps  none  at  all  to  others  of  greater  importance.  Whether  this 
be  so  or  not,  I  can  truly  say  that  there  are  ver\^  many  matters  of  more 
or  less  importance  which  have  had  to  remain  unnoticed  in  order  to  keep 
the  book  within  the  desired  limits. 


284 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 


TAKl.K     OF 


TKMrKKATURl^S.     ANXl  AL     PRECiriTATIOXS.     AND     HIGHEST 
AND    LOWEST   WATER    IN    THE    RR'ERS 


:s5 


1871 
187a 
1873 
1874 

1875 

i87€ 
1877 
1878 

1879 

1880 

1881 

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

IN  almost  all  cases  I  have  given  the  names  of  the  authors  from  whom 
I  have  quoted.     Where  they  are  not  given,  it  will  be  observed  that 
the  matters  stated  are  of  such  a  general  historic  nature  as  to  require 
no  reference  to  authors.     Hence  it  is,  there  are  no  footnotes  nor  any- 
thing in  the  nature  of  a  bibliograph3\ 

I  am  indebted  to  many  persons  for  favors  shown  me  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  my  work.  Mayor  George  Parsons  gave  me  every  opportunity 
to  examine  the  books  and  records  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City 
Property  and  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Cairo  Trust  Propert}',  the  former 
extending  back  as  far  as  the  year  1846,  and  embracing  some  papers  and 
records  coming  over  from  the  Holbrook  administration  of  1836  to 
1846.  The  Hon.  William  B.  Gilbert,  whose  father.  Judge  Miles  A. 
Gilbert,  knew  all  about  Cairo  from  1836  to  1851,  furnished  me  the 
photograph  of  his  father  from  which  the  picture  herein  was  made;  also 
the  map  of  Cairo,  of  1838,  showing  the  line  of  the  proposed  canal  from 
Cache  River  down  to  the  point,  and  also  the  blank  certificate  of  stock, 
such  as  was  issued  by  the  old  Cairo  Citj'  &  Canal  Company.  Mr. 
Michael  J.  Howley  has  rendered  me  invaluable  services  in  a  great  many 
matters  and  ways.  His  work  has  so  aided  me  that  but  for  it  I 
would  have  had  much  more  to  do  or  the  work  would  probably  have 
been  left  undone.  I  am  indebted  to  the  following  named  persons  for 
pictures  of  the  persons  named  from  which  their  photogravures  were 
made:  To  Mrs.  Joseph  W.  Wenger,  for  the  photograph  of  her 
grandfather,  Col.  Samuel  Staats  Taylor;  to  Mrs.  John  S.  Aisthorpe, 
for  the  photograph  of  Captain  William  P.  Halliday,  taken  probably 
in  the  year  1874,  when  Mr.  William  Winter,  whom  so  many  of  us 
remember,  had  his  art  rooms  on  Sixth  Street  between  the  two  avenues; 
to  Dr.  B.  N.  Bond,  of  Bellingham,  Washington,  for  a  photograph  copy 
of  the  oil  painting  of  his  father,  Governor  Bond,  painted  by  Gilbert 
Stuart,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  in  1812;  to  Dr.  W.  W.  Kane,  of 
Pinckne3^ille,  for  the  picture  of  Senator  Elias  Kent  Kane,  his  grand- 
father; to  Mrs.  General  John  A.  Logan,  of  Washington,  for  the  por- 
trait from  which  the  picture  of  Judge  Alexander  M.  Jenkins  was  taken ; 
to  Mr.  Sidney  S.  Breese,  of  Springfield,  for  the  photograph  from  which 
the  picture  of  Judge  Sidney  Breese,  his  grandfather,  was  taken.  Bar- 
oness Caroline  Von  Roques,  who,  in  the  month  of  September,  1909,  was 
residing  temporarily  at  Stamford,  Connecticut,  and  who  is  now  deceased, 
sent  me  a  beautiful  small  picture  of  her  father,  Darius  Blake  Holbrook, 
and  it  was  from  that  picture  that  the  fine  picture  herein  of  him  was  taken. 
The  pictures  of  the  two  old  gunboats  are  copies  from  old  photographs 

28^ 


286 HISTORY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CAIRO 

kindly  furnished  me  by  Mr.  E.  C.  Halliday;  and  the  pictures  of  the 
Cairo-Kaskaskia  bank  bills  are  from  the  original  bills,  now  the  property 
of  Mr.  James  H.  Galligan. 

I  hope  it  will  not  be  regarded  as  out  of  place  for  me  to  speak  of  the 
collection  of  books,  maps,  papers,  documents,  clippings,  etc.,  now  in 
Mayor  Parsons'  offices  as  the  representative  of  the  Trustees.  Though 
given  every  opportunity  for  examination,  1  found  the  work  entirely 
too  hard  to  admit  of  very  extensive  or  thorough  searches.  It  would 
take  two  persons  a  month  or  two  or  more  to  go  over  them  and  select 
and  catalogue  all  that  they  might  find  deserving  of  preservation.  Many 
of  us  knew  what  Col.  Taylor's  custom  or  habit  was  in  this  respect,  but 
no  one  would  suppose  that  the  collections  were  so  extensive  and  all  in 
such  a  good  state  of  preservation.  I  do  not  know  what  Mayor  Parsons 
or  the  Trustees  will  be  able  to  do  with  them.  I  only  know  that  when 
he  or  any  one  else  undertakes  the  work  of  assortment  it  will  be  found 
an  exceedingly  laborious  one. 

In  the  course  of  my  work  I  have  collected  a  large  number  of  in- 
teresting documents  which  I  had  hoped  to  include  in  an  appendix;  but 
I  found  that  to  do  so  would  enlarge  the  book  to  twice  its  present  size, 
and  hence  their  omission.  Among  them  are  a  number  of  maps  and  plats. 
Could  the  city  or  the  public  library  management  take  charge  of  them 
and  have  the  same  printed  and  bound  in  some  comparatively  cheap  form, 
it  would  well  justify  the  work  and  expense.  At  all  events,  those  I  have 
and  the  large  number  belonging  to  the  Trustees  ought  to  be  preserved 
in  our  public  library  in  some  suitable  shape  or  manner.  I  am  sure  Mr. 
Parsons  would  heartily  favor  such  a  course.  Such  matters  can  be  post- 
poned only  at  the  risk  of  partial  or  entire  loss  of  interesting  historical 
information.  Mr.  Michael  J.  Howley,  who  has  for  a  long  time  done 
so  much  in  the  way  of  gathering  and  printing  in  our  city  papers  in- 
teresting matters  of  local  histor>%  could  perhaps  do  more  than  any  one 
else  in  furthering  such  an  undertaking  as  this. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Able,  Wilson,  41,  98,  269 

Abrasions  of  River  Banks,  63 

A.  B.   SaiTord   Memorial   Library,   113, 

153 

Acknowledgments,  285 

Adams,  Mrs.  Mary  J.,   154 

Adler,  Isaac,  235 

Aisthorpe,  H.  R.,  232 

Aisthorpe,  John  S.,  156,  232 

Aisthorpe,  Mrs.  John   S.,  285 

Akers,  Rev.  Dr.,  141 

Alba,  Conrad,  275 

Alba,  Wm.,  275 

Albright,   Fountain  E.,    181,   237 

Alden,  A.  J.,  144 

Alden,  Mrs.  B.  E.,  144 

Alden,  George  M.,  275 

Alexander,  William  M.,  211,  269 

Alexander  Club,  177 

Alexander  County,  211 

Alexander  County  National  Bank,  232 

Alexander  County  Savings  Bank,  232 

Allen,  James  D.,  270 

Allen,  Mrs.  Jean  M.,  164 

Allen,  Nesbit,  211 

Allen,  Sheldon  R.,   152 

Allen,  Judge  William  J.,  178,  269,  275 

Allinson,  Samuel,  51 

Alvis,  Henry  E.,  152 

Alvord,  George  G.,  123,  151 

Alvord,  Mrs.  G.  G.,  154 

America,  Town  of,  28,  40,  213 

American  Notes,   170,  241 

Amos,  Lydia,  152 

Anderson,  Rev.  A.  H.  W.,  140 

Anderson,  A.  W.,  239 

Anderson,  J.  B.,   145 

Angel,  E.  A.,  151 

Anthony,  Miss,  124 

Antrim,  H.  S.,  233 

Antrim,  John,  235,  275 

Apple  Creek,  245 

Arab   Fire   Company,   and   First  Mem- 
bers of,  271 

Archibald,  O.  B.,  145 

Arlington  House,  126 

Armitage,  B.  F.,  151 

Armstrong,  Rev.  C.  H.,  143 

Armstrong,  Miss  E.  F.,   123 

Armstrong,  Frank  B.,  269 

Arrick,  A.  A.,  126 


Arrick,  James  C,  126 
Arter,  Daniel,  213,  233,  275 
Arter,  Mrs.  M.  A.,   154 
Artesian  Wells,  93,  94 
Ashmun,  George,  103,  106 
Atherton,  Aaron,  211 
Atherton,  F.  D.,  145 
Audubon,  John  James,  251 
Audubon,  John  Woodhouse,  251 
Audubon,  Journal  of,  251 
Augur,  Mrs.  Julia  C,  144 
Augur,  W.  C,  144 
Austin,  Henry,  171 
Au  Vaise  River 

B 

Babbitt,  Rev.  C,  142 

Babbs,  E.,  178 

Babcock,  Rev.  George  M.,  140 

Backus,  E.,  215 

Bacon  Rock,  228 

Bagby,  Col.  Emmet  W.,  256 

Baird,  Robert  H.,  86,  275 

Baker,  Ann  Eliza,  194 

Baker,  David  J.,  Jr.,  75,   83,  140,   178, 

179,  180,  199,  269,  275 
Baker,  David  J.,  Sr.,  26,  43,  48,  6i,  97, 

98,  194,  239 
Baldwin,  Harvey,  49 
Baldwin,  William,  243 
Balfry,  Mrs.  J.  J.,  124 
Banks,  Cairo,  231 
Baptist  Church,  Cairo,  144 
Baptist  Church,  Calvary,  145 
Baptist  Church,  First  Missionary,   146 
Baptist  Church,  Missionary,  146 
Barclay,  James  S.,  76 
Barclay,  Mrs.  Mary  C,  154 
Barclay,  Philander  C,  154 
Barclay,  Philander  W.,  76 
Barclay,  Mrs.  Philander  W.,  153 
Barnitz,  Rev.  S.  S.,  142 
Barrett,  Miss  Ida,  154 
Barron,  William  E.,  72,  92 
Barry,  Ethel,  152 
Bass,  Rev.  L.  D.,  145 
Batterton,  Bessie,  152 
Bates,  Robert  P.,  247 
Beale,  Titian  R.,  243 
Beck,  Christopher,  275 


290 


INDEX 


Becker,  George  J.,  275 

Beckwith,  Quinton  E.,  141,  232 

Bedford,  Ida  M.,  152 

Beerwart,  William  T.,  271,  272 

Beland,  Gustave,  142 

Bench  and  Bar,  275 

Bennett,  Sanford  P.,  275 

Bennett,  Frances  W.,  152 

Benson,  T.  W.,  145 

Biddle,  E.  R.,  48 

Biggs,  William,  25,  257 

Bigley,  M.,  151 

Billings,  H.  W.,  41 

Binney,  Amos,  48 

Biographical    Encyclopedia   of   Illinois, 

275 
Bird,  Abram,  Sr.,  259 
Bird  Family,  258 
Bird,  Hunter,  269,  270 
Bird,  Thompson,  259 
Bird,  William,  259 
Bird's  Point,  258 
Black,  Adolph,  275 
Black,  Harmon  H.,  269 
Blackwell,  Rev.  Henry  C,  141 
Blake,  Byron  F.,  275 
Blauvelt,  Ella  Armstrong,  152 
Block,  Henry,  275 
Bloms,  Herman,  275 
Bloom,  John,  124 
Bond,  Dr.  B.  N.,  285 
Bond,  Edwin,  142 

Bond,  Shadrack,  25,  26,  33,  34,  36,  285 
Bondurant,  Dr.  A.  A.,  145,  156,  270 
Bonnar,  Rev.  David  A.,  139 
Bossinger,  Slater  S.,  141 
Boundaries,  118,  211 
Bowers,  Rev.  George  A.,  143 
Bowlar,  F.  F.,  152 
Boyd,  Thomas,  232 
Braden,  Rev.  Clark,  144 
Bradley,  Belfield  B.,  275 
Bradsby,  Mr.  H.  C,  5,  165,  219 
Brady,  Rev.  P.,  138 
Breckinridge,  John  C,  267 
Breese,  Judge  Sidney,  26,  32,  37,  48,  61, 

96,  97,  98,  105,  108,  269 
Breese,  Sidney  S.,  285 
Bribach,  Robert,  142 
Bristol,  Walter  L.,  275 
Brooks,  Samuel  S.,  270 
Bross,  Fredolin,  87,  232,  269,  275 
Brown,  Mrs.,    144 
Brown,  Alfred,  270 
Brown,  Rev.  A.  J.,  144 
Brown,  John  T.,  140 
Brown,  John  &  Co.,  48 
Brown,  Rev.  L.  S.,  144 
Brown,  Warren,  26,  31,  33,  37 
Browning,  Daniel  M.,  269 


Bruce  School,  152 

Bryant,  Lieut.  Nathaniel  C,  137 

Brj'son,  Rev.  M.  A.,  142 

Buchanan,  Rev.  A.  S.,  140 

Buchanan,  William  J.,  141 

Bucher,  Eberhard,  275 

Buder,  Edward  A.,  232,  233,  234,  275, 

276 
Bugg,  Georgia,  152 
Bugg,  Nancy  A.,  152    .     . 
Building  &  Loan  Associations,  232 
Bulletin,  The  Cairo,  165,  277 
Burke,  Edward  A.,  270 
Burke,  Patrick,  87 
Burke,  W.  R.,  179 
Burley,  A.  H.,  130 
Burlingham,  E.  P.,  151 
Burnett,  E.  A.,  165 
Burnham,  Miss  Mary,  123 
Burns,  J.  W.,  145 
Burr,  Col.  Aaron,  28 
Burrall,  William  P.,  220 
Butler,  Mann,  257 

Butler,  William  N.,  236,  269,  270,  275 
Butterfield,  J.,  loi,  104,  107 


Cache  River,  21,  46 

Cache  River  Valley,  91 

Cairo  as  a  Business  Point,  280 

Cairo  Banks,  231 

Cairo  Baptist  Church,  144 

Cairo  Building  &  Loan  Ass'n,  233 

Cairo  Bulletin,  The,  165,  277 

Cairo  City  and  Canal  Company,  41,  58 

Cairo  City  Property,  49,  58 

Cairo  City    Property,    Organization    of 

Trust,  59 
Cairo  City  Times,  220,  229,  266 
Cairo  Daily  Argus,   163,  164 
Cairo  Daily  News,  76 
Cairo  Delta,  The,  59,  74.  168,  252 
Cairo  Drainage  District,  263 
Cairo  during  the  War,  1861-1865,  128 
Cairo  Evening  Sun,  123,  124 
Cairo  from  1836  to  1846,  41 
Cairo  from  June  13,  1846,  to  December 

23,  1853,  58 
Cairo  Geodetic  Survey,  263 
Cairo,  Gunboat,   137 
Cairo  Harbor,  227 
Cairo  High  School,  152 
Cairo  in  Servitude  to  Land  Companies, 

167 
Cairo  Island,  258 
Cairo-Kaskaskia  Bank  Bills,  286 
Cairo  National  Bank,  232 
Cairo  Newspapers,   163 
Cairo,  of  1818,  30 


INDEX 


291 


Cairo,  of  1818,  Incorporated,  33 

Cheek,  John,  235 

Cairo,  of  1818,  Plat  of,  30 

Chickasaw  Indians,  18,  257,  260 

Cairo,  Site  of,  from  1818  to  1836, 

39 

Chouteau,  Augustus,  31,  73 

Cairo  Site    and    its    Abrasions    b} 

'    the 

Chouteau,  Peter,  33 

Rivers,  63 

Christian  Church,  143 

Cairo  Telegram,  The,  81,  164 

Christy,  Miss  Ida,  123 

Cairo  under  Town  Government, 

[77 

Church  of  the  Redeemer,  139 

Cairo,  Veteran  Club    and    First    Mem- 

Churches, 138 

bers  of,  272 

Citizen,  The,  163 

Cairo  &  Fulton  Railroad,  224 

Citizen,  The  Evening,  164,  277 

Cairo  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  Co.,  222 

Citizen,  Weekly,  140 

Cairo  &  Thebes  Railroad,  224 

City  and  Bank  of  Cairo,  26,  33 

Cairo  &  Vincennes  Railroad  Co.,  223 

City  Bank  of  Cairo,  231,  235 

Caledonia,  Town  of,  28 

City,  Election  of  1857,  87,  273 

Calhoun,  John  C,  67,  242 

City  Government  of  53  years,  177 

Calvary  Baptist  Church,  145 

City  Indebtedness,   79 

Campbell,  Maj.  Gen.  John,  256,  257 

City  National  Bank,  231 

Campbell,  Thomas  H.,  236 

City  of  Cairo  of  1818,   30 

Canady,  P.  C,  232 

Citizens'  Building  &  Loan  Ass'n,  233 

Candee,  Henry  H.,  86,  87,  140,  153 

194, 

Civil  Engineers  of  Trustees,  162 

262,  276 

Clancy,  John,  267 

Candee,  Henry  S.,  140,  165,  232 

Clanc}',  Dr.  R.  E.,  270 

Candee,  Mrs.  Isabella  L.,  154 

Clark,  Mr.,  124 

Candee,  Stephen  S.,  194 

Clark,  Benjamin  E.,  276 

Cannon,  Frank  E.,  270 

Clark,  E.  S.,  151 

Cantrell,  Tilman  B.,  222 

Clark,  Gen.    George    Rogers,    15,    128, 

Carey,  C.  S.,  233 

215,  255,  256,  258,  280 

Carey,  E.  D.,  150  • 

Clark,  Jefferson  M.,  276 

Carey,  Emma,  152 

Clark,  Lewis  and,  33 

Carle,  Andrew  J.,  276 

Clark,  Luther  C,  49 

Carlson,  E.   H.,   152 

Clark,  Mrs.  Mary  E.,  144 

Carmichael,  Dr.  Duncan  A.,  156 

Clarke,  Capt.,  242 

Carnes,  George  T.,  233 

Clarke,  Charles  S.,  227 

Carpenter,  Mr.,  144 

Clarke,  Dr.  W.  C,  156,  270 

Carr,  Gen.  Clark  E.,  133,  280 

Clendenen,  Taylor  C,  142,  151 

Cartwright,  Sir  George,  202 

Cloud,   George,  41 

Carver,  Mrs.  I.  N.,  154 

Club,  Cairo  Veteran,  272 

Cary,  Dr.  S.  B.,  270 

Club,  Woman's,  153,  154 

Cary,  William  G.,  276 

Coan,  Rev.  Edward,  139 

Casey,  N.  R.,  223 

Cobb,  Dr.  Julius  0.,  156 

Casey,  Mrs.  N.  R.,  154 

Coe,  Rev.  J.  W.,  139 

Casey,    Hon.  Zadok,   48 

Cohen,  Pearl,  152 

Cassiday,  Frank,  233,  234 

Cchn,  Reta,  152 

Caster,  Mrs.  N.  E.,  144 

Colbert,  Col.  George,  260 

Catholic  Churches,  138,  143 

Colbert,  James,  257,  260 

Cemetery  of  the  Lotus,  261 

Colbert,  Levi,  260 

Census  of  County  and  City,  208 

Colbert,  William,  260 

Central   Building   &  Loan   Ass'n, 

The, 

Coleman,  Albert  C,  276 

233 

Collins,  Rev.  C.  M.,  138 

Central  House,  235 

Collins'  History  of  Kentucky,  256 

Chamber  of  Commerce  of  1865,  Mem- 

Colonial Grants,  13 

bers  of,  267,  268 

Comegys,  John   G.,   31,   33,  34,  44,  97, 

Chamberlain,  E.  G.,  263 

112,  162,  2l8 

Chambers,  Allie,  152 

Comegys  &  Falconer,  34 

Chandler,  Florence  Elizabeth,  193 

Coming,  Fortesque,  241 

Chandler,  Holbrook  St.  John,  193 

Comings,  Alfred,  233,  262 

Chandler,  William,   193 

Commercial    Bodies,    Clubs,    Fraternal 

Charlevoix,  Father  Xavier  De,  22 

128 

Orders  and  other  Organizations,  264 

Chase,  Rt.  Rev.  Philander,  139 

Conant,  P.  A.,  233 

Chase,  S.  P.,  132 

Concord,  The,  281 

292 


INDEX 


Conkling,  James  C,  236 

Conners,  Timothy,  124 

Conquest  of  the  North  West,  English's, 

257 
Cook,  John,  236 
Cook,  Thomas,  124 
Coperthwait,  Joseph,  48 
Corbett,  Thomas  H.,  221 
Corcoran,  John,  138 
Corcoran,  P.,  148,  149,  261 
Corcoran,  Mrs.  P.,  124 
Cotter,  Thomas  P.,  232 
Cotton  Bek  Railroad,  224 
County,   City   and   Other   Officers,   269, 

270 
Court  of  Common  Pleas,  237 
Cowell,  J.  G.,  269 
Cox,  E.  E.,  232,  233 
Cox,  F.  W.,  145 
Cox,  Dr.  N.  W.,  270 
Crabtree,  G.  P.,  233 
Cramers'  Navigator,  242 
Crawford,  Monroe  C,  239,  269 
Crebs,  John  M.,  223 
Crofton,  John,  124 
Crowley,  John  C,  233 
Crumb,  Clabe  B.,  247 
Crumb,  D.  S.,  247 
Cullom,  Shelby  M.,  269 
Cummings,  Dr.  James  C,  122 
Cundifl,  Mr.  &  Mrs.  Robert  J.,  144 
Cunningham,  Charles,  141 
Cunningham,  Robert  H.,  76,  86,  275 
Cunningham,  William,  141 
Cunynghame,  Lieut.  Col.  Arthur,  252 
Curry,  James,  257 
Custom  House,  233 
Cyrus,  Mr.,  144 
Cyrus,  John  M.,  267 

D 

Daniels,  Alonzo,  124 

Davenport,  Rev.  Frederick  P.,  139 

Davidson,  William  M.,  276 

Davidson  &  Stuve's  History,  46 

Davis,  Annie,  124 

Davis,  Charles,  51,  58,  61,  158,  160,  261 

Davis,  D.  L.,  124 

Davis,  Frank  E.,  277 

Davis,  H.  A.,  270 

Davis,  Jefferson,  267 

Davis,  Dr.  J.  H.,  270 

Davis,  Lee  B.,  275 

Day,  Peter,  233 

Day,  Rev.  T.,  139 

Day,  William,  159 

De  Baun,  A.  T.,  233 

De  Lassus,  259 

Dee,  Rev.  J.  G.,  142 


Deneen,  Governor,  279 

Dennett,  Fred,  216 

Denning,  William  A.,  86,  269 

Dentists,  270 

Denzel,  Walter,  233 

De  Rosset,  Rev.  Fred.  A.,  139 

Desrocher,  Gideon,  276 

Dewey,  Edmund  S.,  141,  275 

Dewey,  Miss  Jennie  E.,  152 

Dewey,  Mrs.  Jennie  M.,  154 

Dewey,  Mrs.  M.  J.,  144 

Dewey,  William  S.,  141,  225,  233,  269, 

270,  275 
Dewey,  C.  B.,  233 
Dexter,  Isaac  D.,  212 
Dickens,  Charles,  115,  122,  170,  241,  254 
Dickerson,  Dr.  E.  S.,  270 
Dickey,  Huston,  124 
Dickey,  William,   148,  149 
Diepenbrock,  Rev.  J.  B.,  143,  155 
Diller,  Jeremiah,  160 
Dishon,  Calvin,  229 
Distinguished  Personages,  265 
Documents,  Relating  to  Cairo,  41 
Dodds,  Dr.  Samuel,  270 
Dodge,  Henry  S.,  26,  34,  38 
Dolan,  Hugh,  212 
Dougherty,  John,  86,  269 
Douglas,  Senator,  96,  103,  105 
Douglas  School,  150,  152 
Downey,  Rev.  James  J.,  139 
Drainage  District,  Cairo,  263 
Draper,  Simeon,  Jr.,  48 
Duerschner,  Rev.  C,  143 
Dugan,  Michael,  124 
Dugan,  Capt.  R.  W.,  228 
Dumas,  Azalea,  152 
Duncan,  Governor,  238 
Duncan,  Major,  35,  112,  162 
Duncan,  Joseph,  48 
Duncan,  Warren  W.,  269 
Duncan,  William  Butler,  222 
Dunn,  Dr.  James  W.,  270 
Dunning,  Charles  W.,  140,  276 
Dunsing,  Rev.  J.,  142 
Dyer,  Thomas,  loi 

E 

Earliest  Settlers  of  the  County,  211 

Early  Residents  of  Cairo,  276 

Early  Western    Travels,    67,    241,    243, 

246 
Easterday,  M.,  115,  141 
Echols,  Benjamin  F.,  213 
Eckerle,  Rev.  James,  138 
Eddy,  Henry,  98,  269 
Eden,  John  F.,  144 

Edwards,  Judge  Benjamin  F.,  38,  236 
Edwards,  Helen  K.  Dodge,  38 


INDEX 


293 


Edwards,  Gov.  Ninian,  25,  31,  37,  38, 

Fisher,  Mrs.  Susan  G.,  154 

211,  229,  236 

Fitch,  Thomas  W.,  224 

Egan,  Martin,  76,  87 

Fitzpatrick,  Mrs.,  124 

Eggleston,  George  W.,  221 

Fleming,  R.  K.,  174 

Eblman,  Maude,  152 

Flannary,  Abraham,  213,  214 

Ehs,   Anthony  P.,   275 

Flannary,  Joshua,  213,  214 

Eichhoff,  William,  276 

Flannary  Survey,  214,  215,  256 

Eight  Months  in  Illinois,  247 

Flannary,  Thomas,  213,  214 

Election,  Presidential,  i860,  128 

Flint,  Rev.  Timothy,  242,  265 

Election  of  1855,  86,  177 

Flood  Plain,  91 

Election  of  1857,  87,  273 

Floods,  Highest  Known  in  Rivers,  72 

Elliott,  Thomas  C,  234 

Foote,  Rev.  C.  H.,  140 

Ellis,  Mrs.  Edith,  154 

Ford's  History  of  Illinois,  46 

Ellis,  Eugene  E.,  164,  276 

Fort  Chartres,  215 

Elmwood  School,  150,  152 

Fort  Crevecoeur,  19 

Embaj'ment  Area,  90 

Fort  Dearborn,  29 

Engineers,  Civil,  162 

Fort  Defiance,  266 

Englebracht,  Rev.  W.,  143 

Fort  Donelson,  135 

English,  H.  S.,  151 

Fort  Duquesne,  14 

Ensminger,  Marmaduke  S.,  89 

Fort  Henry,  135 

Enterprise  (Savings)  Bank,  232 

Fort  Hieman,  135 

Episcopal  Church,  139 

Fort  Holt,  134,  137 

Episcopal  Church,  St.  Michael's,  146 

Fort  Jefferson,  15,  255,  257,  258 

Eschman,  Rev.  Charles  J.,  139,  155,  156 

Fort  Massac,  28,  29,  244 

Evening  Citizen,  The,  164,  277 

Fort  Miami,  19 

Extracts  from  Books,  etc.,  240 

Fort  Patrick  Henry,  256 

Foss,  Miss  Henrietta,  123 

F 

Fountaine,  Alexander  M.,  213 

Frank,  Mrs.  Emma  B.,  154 

•Fackney,  James,  223 

Franklin,  J.,  260 

Falconer,  L.  E.,  34 

Fraternal  Orders,  264 

Falls,  Capt.  Walter,  84,  218,  270 

Freeman,  Jonathan,  44,  46 

Farnbaker,  Isaac,  276 

French,  Miss  H.  W.,  123 

Farnbaker,  Solomon,  164 

French,  Miss  S.  N.,  123 

Farrin,  Julia,   152 

French  and  English  Wars,  14 

Faudree,  Tom  L.,  269 

French  Explorers,  18 

Faxon,  Leonard  G.,  220,  270 

French  Fort,  18,  m,  112 

Feilding,  Mr.,  126 

Frick,  J.  K.,  212 

Feith,  Mrs.  M.  E.,  156,  275 

Friend,  Rev.  John,  144 

Feith,  Nicholas,  276 

Frink,  J.,  loi 

Female  Academy  of  the  Sisters  of  Lor- 

Fry,  W.  C,  233 

etta,  152 

Fuller,  Allen  C,  130 

Fenton,  Mr.  &  Mrs.  A.  B.,  143,  262 

Fuller,  Thomas  A.,  277 

Ferguson,  Frank,  150,  233,  270 

Future  of  Cairo,  280,  283 

Ferguson,  Thomas,  25 

Ferries,  Cairo's  Need  of,  229 

G 

Feuchter,  Charles,  232,  233,  275 

Fever,  Tertian,  20 

Gaffney,  Timothy  N.,  87 

Field,  Cyrus  W.,  193 

Galigher,  Charles,  235,  262,  275 

Fields,  Dr.  W.  H.,  270 

Galigher,  C.  Fred,  140 

Finch,  Cullen  D.,  86,  178 

Galligan,  James  H.,  150,  151,  232,  233, 

Finley,  Chas.,  259 

27s,  286 

Finn,  Rodger,  87 

Galligan,  Mrs.  Jennie  M.,  155 

Fire  of  December,  1858,  261 

Garfield,  James  A.,  267 

First  Bank  &  Trust  Co.,  153,  231,  232 

Garrison  School,   152 

Fish,  Stuyvesant,  206 

Gassaway,  Dr.  James  M.,  156 

Fisher,  Ellen  B.,  152 

Gause,  Edwin,  270 

Fisher,  George,  25,   140,  141,  156,  164, 

Gayoso  Hotel,  236 

233,  275,  276 

Gee,  Rev.  W.  Sanford,  D.  D.,  144 

Fisher,  John  C,  164 

Geodetic  Survey,  263 

294 


INDEX 


Geological  Formations,  90 

George,   Rev.   Benjamin   Y.,    126,    140, 

153 
Gholson,  John  C,  145,  233 
Gibson,  W.  F.,  145,  150,  151 
Gibson,  William  H.,  141 
Gilbert,  Barry,  275 
Gilbert,  Rev.  Charles  A.,  139 
Gilbert,  Edward  L.,  150,  151,  233 
Gilbert,  Miles  A.,  26,  32,  42,  61,  74,  88, 

97.  98,  "3.  157.   193,  235,   276,  282, 

285 
Gilbert,  Miles    Fred'k,    140,    233,    237, 

270,  275,  276 
Gilbert,  Miles  S.,  270,  275 
Gilbert,  Mrs.  W.  B.,  154,  155 
Gilbert,  William  B.,  84,  loi,  140,  237-, 

270,  275,  276,  285 
Gilbert,  William  C,  275 
Gill,  J.  D.,  145 
Gillen,  Rev.  James,  139,  143 
Gillham,  Rev.  J.  D.,  142 
Gillham,  John  D.,  275 
Gilkey,  Miss,  144 
Gilkey,  Mrs.,  144 
Gittinger,  C.  O.,  152 
Glauber,  Miss  Marie  C,  154 
Glenn,  L.  C,  90 
Goeltz,  Rev.  C,  155 
Goeltzhauser,  Rev.  William,  155 
Goldsmith,  Mrs.  Anna,  155 
Goldstine,  Jacob  A.,  276 
Gordon,  Dr.  E.  E.,  270 
Gordon,  George  D.,  87,  261 
Gordon,  J.  J.,  124,  126,  276 
Gordon,  Mrs.  Mamie  H.,   155 
Goss,  Mrs.  Catherine  C.  E.,  154,  155 
Gott,  S.  E.,  270 
Graham,  Halliday  &  Co.,  235 
Graham,  James  D.,  243 
Graham,  John  M.,  270 
Graham,  Rev.  L.  G.,  145 
Grammer,  John,  25 
Grand  Tower,  240 
Grant,  Alexander  F.,  269 
Grant,  Ulysses,  135,  267 
Gravier,  Father  Jacques,  20 
Greaney,  John  B.,  275 
Greaney,  William  P.,  233,  270,  275 
Greater  Cairo  Building  &  Loan  Ass'n, 

233 
Greeley  School,  152 
Green,  Reed,    154,   232,   233,    269,   270, 

275 
Green,  Hon.  William  H.,  153,  232,  269, 

275,  276 
Greenup,  William  C,  25 
Gregory,  Charles  E.,  275 
Grinstead,  Dr.  W.  F.,  156,  232,  270 
Grossman,  Rev.  H.  C,  143 


Groves,  S.  P.,  142 

Growth  of  "The  Three  States,"  208 

Guide,  American,  253 

Guiteras,  Dr.  Gregorio  M.,  156 

Gunboat,  Cairo,  137 

Guy,  Lott,  Mattie  E.,  152 

H 

Hacker,  Col.  John  S.,  41,  42,  46,  75,  98, 

233 
Hacker,  William  A.,  220,  269 
Hall,  Dr.  E.  K.,  76 
Hall,  Ed,  233 
Halley,  A.,  276 
Halliday  Brothers,  207 
Halliday,  Douglas,  207,  275 
Halliday,  E.  C,  233,  286 
Halliday,  Major   Edwin   W.,    91,    207, 

275 
Halliday,  Mrs.  Eliza,  156 
Halliday,  H.  H.,  150,  151 
Halliday,  Harry  E.,  165,  207,  232,  266, 

275 
Halliday,  Henry  L.,  140,  207,  275 
Halliday  Hotel,  31,  235,  253,  265 
Halliday,  Samuel  B.,  140,  207,  231 
Halliday,  Thomas   W.,    153,    180,    183, 

207,  269 
Halliday,  Capt.  William  P.,  81,  83,  140, 

153.  203,  207,  222,  223,  231,  232,  267, 

285 
Halliday,  William  R.,  207 
Hambleton,  William  L.,  136 
Hamilton,  Gov.,  128 
Hamilton,  Col.  R.  J.,    loi 
Hamilton,  Surgeon-General,   156 
Hamlin,  D.  William,  124 
Hannon,  Daniel,  212,  236 
Hannon,  Horace  A.,  276 
Harbor,  Cairo,  227 
Hardin,  Jeptha,  269 
Harker,  Oliver  A.,  269 
Harmon,  Jno.  Q.,  86,  87,  140 
Harper,  Hannah  M.,  152 
Harrell,  Bailey  S.,  148,  217,  270 
Harrell's  Directory,  265 
Harrell,  Edgar  C,  276 
Harrell,  Dr.  F.  M.,  270 
Harrell,  Isaac  L.,  217 
Harrell,  Moses  B.,  5,  86,  148,  149,  150, 

178,  217,  270 
Harrell,  Wm.,  217,  266 
Harrell's  Short  History,  217,  278 
Harris,  Dr.  Bert,  270 
Harris,  Henry,  142 
Harris,  Thomas  H.,  33,  34 
Harrison,  Scott,  218 
Hart,  Robert,  124 
Hartman,  Daniel,  232 


INDEX 


295 


Hasenjaeger,  Henry,  266 

Hastings,  Ira,  233 

Hastings,  Maude,  152 

Hastings,  Samuel,  275 

Hatcher,  Robert  A.,  178,  269 

Hawes,  G.  W.,  235 

Hawkins,  Rev.  L.,  143 

Hawlev,  Thomas  G.,  107 

Hay,  Mr.  &  Mrs.  S.  R.,  143 

Hay,  Samuel  R.,  262 

Haynie,  Isham  N.,  222,  223,  237,  275 

Health  of  the  City,  120,  122 

Healy,  Miss  Kate,  124 

Healy,  Thomas,  124 

Heilbig,  Rev.  G.  P.,  142 

Hemphill,  John,  48 

Henderson,  Mrs.,   144 

Henderson,  Charles  W.,  189 

Hendricks   (Henricks)  Geo.  W.,  258,  276 

Hendricks    (Henricks)  William  E.,  258 

Hennepin,  Father  Louis,  18 

Henrie,  Arthur,  30,  35,  120 

Henry,  Gov.  Patrick,  255,  256 

Herbert,  Oscar  L.,  232 

Herbert,  Thomas  F.,  33,  34 

Hess,  Rev.  A.  J.,  144 

Hess,  Samuel,  223 

Hibbitts,  Dr.  J.  B.,  270 

Hibernian    Fire    Company    and     First 

Members  of,  271 
High  School,  Cairo,  152 
Highest  Water,  284 
Hilburn,  George  A.,  145 
Hileman,  Judge  Thomas,  41,  162 
Hill,  Rev.  L.  D.,  144 
Hinkle,  Jesse,  276 
Hinsen,  Rev.  L.,  143 
Historical  Encyclopedia  of  Illinois,  275 
Historical  Places  in  the  City,  265 
History  Alexander,  Union,  and  Pulaski 

Counties,   5,   163,  194,  211,  213,  217, 

278 
History  of  Missouri,  Houck's,  24,  259 
Hitchcock,  Ethan  A.,  160 
Hodges,  Alexander  C,  269 
Hodges,  John,  230,  269,  275,  276 
Hoffman,  Rev.  C,  143 
Hogan,  Ella,  152 
Hogan,  Miss  Mary,  123 
Hogan,  Rev.  Thos.,  143 
Holbrook,  Darius  B.,  41,  42,  43,  44,  48, 

51.  53,  96,  98,  103,  190,  193,  285 
Holbrook,  S.  R.  A.,  115 
Holden,  Alexander  G.,  179,  182,  270 
Holman,  Julius  G.,  141 
Holmes,  Mrs.  Annie,  155 
Holt,  Fort,   134,   137 
Holt,  Dr.  John  M.,  156 
Home  Building  &  Loan  Ass'n,  233 
Honton,  Baron  De  La,  19 


Hood,  Harry,  270 

Hook,  L  H.,  152 

Hoppe,  E.  G.,  145 

Hoppe,  Rev.  G.,  143 

Hospital,  St.  Mary's,  155 

Hospital,  United  States  Marine,  156 

Hoster,  Rev.  Geo.  P.,  144,  145 

Houck,  Louis,  178 

Houck's  Missouri,  24,  259 

House  Report  24th  Congress,  99 

Howard,  Mrs.  Phillip  K.,  154 

Howard,  Phillip  K.,   124 

Howard  &  Hylan,  218 

Howe,  Frank,  156 

Howley,  John,  76,  87,  179,  276 

Howlev,  Michael  J.,  154,  232,  233,  270, 

285, '286 
Hoyt,  Rev.  E.  A.,  142 
Hubbard,  Simon  M.,  98 
Hudson,  Mrs.  Carrie  S.,  154 
Hughes,  Cicero  N.,  276 
Hughes,  James,  98,   126 
Hughes,  Levi,  211 
Hughey,  Rev.  G.  W.,  141,  142 
Humphrey,  J.  Otis,  113 
Humphrey,  Jesse  B.,  140 
Humphreys,  Edward,  26,  33 
Hundley,  Francis  M.,  126 
Hunsaker,  Rev.  J.  W.,  145 
Hunter,  Charles  W.,  33,  34 
Hunter,  Joseph,  259 
Huntington,  A.,  loi 
Hurd,  Mrs.  D.,  262 
Hurd,  Daniel,   75,    150,   223,   231,    262, 

267 
Hursh,  Rev.  J.  G.  M.,  142,  143 
Hurst,  Rev.  D.  C,  142 
Hurst,  Delia,  152 
Hurt,  W.  M.,  151 
Hyslop,  Walter,  141,  235 


mini.  The,  133,  280 

Illinois,  Boundaries  of,  27 

Illinois,  Geographical  Position  of,  32 

Illinois,  Map  of  1822,  13 

Illinois,  Population  of,  208 

Illinois  Central  Railroad,    History    of, 

49,  220 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Bridge,  226 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  of  1836,  41 
Illinois  Country,  13 
Illinois  Exporting  Company,  41,  42,  55, 

59 
Illinois  Historical  Society,  176,  238 
Illinois  Land  Company  of  1773,  23 
Illinois  Territorial   Government,   25 
Immanuel  Lutheran  Church,  142 
Indian  Reservation  of  1803,  24 


296 


INDEX 


Indian  Treaties,  31,  33 
Indians,  29,  33 
Infirmary,  St.  Mary's,  155 
Ingraham,  Elizabeth  Thurston,  193 
Ingraham,  James  M.,  270 
Inundation,  Investigation  of,  49 
Iron  Mountain  Railroad,  224 
Irvin,  Alexander  H.,  140,  230,  269,  270 
Irwin,  M.  W.,  263 

J 

Jackson,  General  Andrew,  28,  242,  260, 

267 
Jackson,  Ralph  W.,  152 
Jackson  Purchase,  259 
James,  Edwin,  67 
James,  William  (col.)  277 
Janssen,  Rev.  John,  155 
Jeflferson,    President   Thomas,    28,   255, 

256,  258 
Jenkins,  Alexander  M.,  42,  43,  97,  98, 

238,  285 
Jenkins,  Ernestine,  152 
Jenks,  Rev.  G.  W.,  142 
Jennelle,  Dr.  John  J.,  270,  275 
Jennings,  Robert,  140 
Jessup,  Augustus  E.,  243 
John  Wright  &  Company,  55,  170 
Johnson,  Gen.  Albert  Sidney,  136 
Johnson,  H.  H.,  267 
Johnson,  James,  275 
Joliet,  M.  Louis,  18 
Jones,  John  A.,  158 
Jones,  Michael,  26,  31,  33,  34,  37i  2^5 
Jones,  Thomas  I.,  270 
Jones,  William,  25,  loi 
Joutel,  20 

Joy,  Rev.  Ephraim,  141 
Juchereau,  Sieur  Charles,  21,  iii,  266 
Judges    of   the    Supreme,    Circuit    and 

County  Courts,  269 
Judy,  Samuel,  25 
June,  W.  P.,  233 


Kallock,  Dr.  Parker  C,  156 

Kane,  Elias  Kent,  26,  34,  37,  97,  285 

Kane,  Dr.  W.  W.,  285 

Kaskaskia,  Town  of,  16,  26 

Keating,  J.  M.,  124 

Keho,  John,  124 

Kelly,  Daniel  E.,  270 

Kenmore,  Rev.  Charles,  140 

Keno,  Clara,  124 

Kentucks,  The,  249 

Kerth,  Thomas  J.,  232,  233 

Ketchum,  Hiram,  61,  158 

King,  Rufus,  Ship,  242 


Kinney,  Lieut.  Gov.  William,  46,  48, 

174 
Kitch,  Rev.  E.  H.,  142 
Klein,  Jacob,  90,  276 
Kline,   Francis,  276 
Kluge,  William,  143,  232,  275,  276 
Knappe,  Rev.  E.,  143 
Knox,  Rev.  J.  T.  M.,  140 
Kobler,  Michael,  276 
Koch,   Christian,  276 
Koehler,  F.  W.,  145 
Koehler,  George  G.,  269 
Koehler,  John,  276 
Koehler,  John  A.,  276 
Kone,  Rev.  W.  F.,  144 
Korsmeyer,  Mrs.  Adele,  154,  155 
Korsmeyer,  Frederick,  123,  276 
Kratky,  Frank,  276 
Kratzinger,  Miss  E.,  123 
Krum,  John  M.,  98,  107,  239 
Kusener,  Casper,  150 
Ku3'kendall,  Major  Andrew  J.,  62,  177, 

223 

L 

Labagh,  Rev.  Isaac  P.,  139 

Ladd,  Mrs.  J.  D.,  155 

Laflin,  M.,  loi 

Lambert,  Rev.  Louis  A.,  138 

Lame,  Charles,  276 

Lammert,  Rev.  Louis,  143 

Lamothe  House,  235 

Lancaster,  Charles,  276 

Lancaster,  Mabel,  152 

Land  Entries  in  Township,  31,  42 

Land  Companies,  Cairo  in  Servitude  to, 

200 
Land  Company,  23 

Land  Grant  of  September  20,  1850,  96 
Landon,  W.  T.,  145 
Lane,  James  S.,  107 
Lane,  W.  R.,  145 
Langan,  P.  T.,  151,  156 
Lansden,  David  S.,  165,  232,  270 
Lansden,  Miss  Effie  A.,  154 
Lansden,  John   M.,   141,   179,  182,  215, 

263,  270,  275 
Lansden,  Mrs.  John  M.,  155 
Lansden,  T.  G.,  268 
LaSalle,  Cavalier  de,  19 
Lathrop,  Rev.  Erastus,  142 
Latimer,  Charles,  262 
Latitude  of  Cairo,  92,  264 
Laws,  John,  215 
Lawyers,  270 
Layton,  Mrs.,  144 
LeBruche,  Cape,  245 
Leek,  Angus,  189,  269,  270 
Lefcovitch,  Mary  Ann,  138 
Lehning,  Jacob,  189 


INDEX 


297 


Leighton,  Hasen,  144 

Lemos,  Gayoso  de,  214 

Leuschen,  Margaret,  152 

Levee  and  Levee  Construction,  63 

Lewis,  A.  W.,  269,  270 

Lewis,  Cordelia  O.,  152 

Lewis,  John  C,  152 

Lewis,  Meriwether,  33 

Lewis,  Thomas,  232,  276 

Lewis  &  Clark,  33 

Library,  A.  B.  Safford  Memorial,  153 

Lightner,  Levi  L.,  233,  269 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  206,  267 

Lincoln  School,  152 

Lind,  Charles  T.,  X49 

Linegar,    David   T.,    76,    81,    184,    223, 

230,  269,  270,  27s,  276 
Linegar    Bill,  80 
Lippitt,  Helen,  152 
Lippitt,  William  D.,  270 
Littlefield,  Solomon,  86 
Logan,  General  John  A.,  229 
Logan,  Mrs.  Gen.  John  A.,  285 
Logan,  William  H.,  222 

Lohr,  Mrs.  A.,  142 

Lohr,  Andrew,  142,  232,  276 

Lonergan,  William,  276 

Long,  Enoch,  163 

Long,  Henry  Clay,  65,  74,  162,  163,  243, 
261 

Long,  Stephen  Harriman,  65,  162,  243 

Longitude  of  Cairo,  92,  264 

Long's  Expedition,  242 

Long's  Peak,  67,  243 

Looney,  William  A.,  270 

Lopas,  Rev.  T.  C,  141 

Lotus,  Cemetery  of,  261 

Louisiana  House,  235 

Lounsbury,  George  E.,  275 

Low,  Daniel,  48 

Low  Lots  and  Grounds,  79 

Lowe,  Rev.  J.  W.,  142 

Lowest  Water,  284 

Ludwig,  William,  276 

Lutheran  Church,  Immanuel,  142 

Lyle,  Rev.  Thomas,  139 

Lynch,  I.,  178 

Lynching  of  James   and   Salzner  Nov, 
II,  1909,  277 

M 

Mack,  Robert,  223 
Mackoy,  Thomas  L.,  270 
Madison,  President,  25 
Magee,  J.  Bruce,  225,  233 
Magner,  William  M.,  270 
Mahoney,  Rev.  S.  P.,  145 
Major,  John,  212 
Manier,  Rev.  R.  H.,  141,  142 


Manley,  Cornelius,  87 

Manning,  Joel,  239 

Mansfield,  Jared,  30 

Maps,  Explanation  of,  114 

Maps  and  Plats,  65,  m 

Marest,  Father  Gabriel,  22 

Marlow,  Rev.  C.  W.,   144 

Marquette,  Father  Jacques,  18 

Marsh,  John  D.,  270 

Martin,  Rev.  A.  G.,  141 

Martin,  Mrs.  Amarala,  154 

Martin,  Jacob,  276 

Martin,  Jacob  L.,   221 

Martin,  Mrs.  William,  144 

Masterson,  Rev.  Thomas,  138 

Mathews,  Charles,  259 

Mathews,  Edward,  259 

Matteson,  Gov.  Joel  A.,  236,  237,  267 

Matthews,  Prairie,  259 

Maximilian,  Alexander  Phillip,  246,  265 

Maxwell,  H.  H.,  25 

Maybrick,  Florence  Elizabeth,   193 

Maybrick,  Gladys,  193 

Maybrick,  James,  193 

Maybrick,  James  C,  193 

Mayfield  Creek,  242 

Mayo,  Walter  L.,  223 

Mayors,  the  Seventeen,  179 

Meehan,  Thomas,  274,  189 

Melcher,  R.  M.  &  Son,  143 

Members  of  the  Legislature  and  other 
Bodies,  269 

Membre,  19 

Memoirs  of  the  Lower  Ohio  Valley,  207, 
275 

Menard,  Pierre,  25,  43,  98 

Meredith,  Wm.  A.,  48 

Meridian,  Third  Principal,  30 

Meriwether,  D.,  260 

Merrill,  Col.  William  E.,  92 

Mertz,  George,  223 

Methodist,  African    Episcopal    Church, 
146 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  141 

Methodist,  Southern   Church,   145 

Metzger,  Matt  C,  233 

Meyers,  Mrs.  Herman,  155 

Midkiff,  J.  Earl,  152 

Miesner,   Henry,  142 

Milford,  Laura  I.,  152 

Miller,  Carrie  J.,  152 

Miller,  Charles  F.,  233 

Miller,  Jesse  E.,  270 

Miller,  John  A.,  275 

Miller,  Mrs.  Kate  F.,  154 

Miller,  Laura  A.,  152 

Miller,  Robert  W.,  181,  231,  235 

Miller,  Roswell,  224 

Miller,  Seay  J.  (col.)  279 

Miller,  Sidney  B.,  269,  270 


298 


INDEX 


Minnis,  Emma  L.,  152 

Miscellaneous  Papers,  261 

Missionary  Priests,   18 

Mississippi  River,  116 

Mitchell,  John  W.,  223 

Mitchell,  S.  A.,  116 

Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad  Co.,  221 

Mockler,  Patrick,  84 

Moenkemueller,  Rev.  J.  F.  W.,  143 

Monroe,  President,  260 

Mooney,  Barney,  179 

Moore,  Frank,  270 

Morgan,  Joel  G.,  151 

Morris,  James  S.,  230 

Morris,  Rev.  W.  B.,  144 

Morris,  Rev.  W.  T.,  142 

Morris,  Wm.  H.,  140,  231 

Morrison,  Mr.  &  Mrs.,  144 

Morrison,  Rev.  A.  P.,  142 

Morrison,  Dr.  T.  D.,  270 

Morrow,  Dr.  E.  D.,  270 

Morrow,  Mrs.  J.  M.,  262 

Morton,  Governor,  155 

Mosby,  Ben  H.,  152 

Mother  Angela,  155 

Mouth  of  the  Ohio,  265,  270 

Mulberry,  G.  Pearl,  152 

Mulkey,  Isaac,  123,  124 

Mulkey,   John   H.,   123,   212,   237,   269, 

275,  276 
Mullins,  Rev.  G.  G.,  144 
Mullitt,  A.  B.,  234 
Munn,  Daniel  W.,  141,  269,  275 
Murphy,  Rev.  J.,  138 
Murphy,  Mr.  &  Mrs.  Jerry,  124 
Murphy,  Richard  G.,  98 
Murphy,  William  M.,  270,  276 
Musson,  James  W.,  267 
Myers,  L.  H.,  233 

Mc 
McAlister,  Charles,  49 
McCabe,  Father,  138 
McCartney,  Robert  W.,  269 
McCauley,  Mr.  &  Mrs.,  144 
McClellan,  Gen.  George  B.,  133,  163 
McClernand,  Gen.  John  A.,  128,  229 
McColley,  Rev.  W.  G.,  144 
McDaniel,  Leo,  270 
McDowell,  W.  W.,  223 
McElmurray,  John,  213,  214 
McEwen,  John,  124 
McFerran,  James,  141 
McGaha,  Rev.  A.  W.,  144 
McGahey,  James  S.,  276 
McGee,  William  Q.,  269 
McGerry,  Rev.  J.  P.,  138 
McGill,  Rev.  H.  L.,  142 
McHale,  William,  228,  272 
McKeaig,  George  W.,  270 
McKee,  Miss  N.  J.,  123 


McKee,  Walter  F.,  124 
McKenzey,  Allen,  2n 
McKenzie,  James,  267 
McKenzie,  Joseph,  76 
McKenzie,  Kenneth,  239 
McKenzie  &  Carnahan,  141 
McKinney,  James  W.,  276 
McManus,  B.,  233 
McManus,  Dr.  James,  156,  270 
McMasters,  Rev.  S.  Y.,  139 
McNeil,  Major  Wm.  Gibbs,  48 
McNemer,  Dr.  J.  H.,  270 
McNemer,  Rev.  R.  H.,  144 
McTigue,  Anthony,  124 


N 


Nally,  Thos.,  124 

Names  of  Voters  of  1857,  273 

Napoleon,  Town  of,  28 

Nason,  Mr.  &  Mrs.  Richard,  124 

Nassauer,  P.  I.,  232 

Neal,  John,  49 

Nealy,  Samuel,  124 

Neff,  Calvin  V.,  232,  269,  270 

Neff,  J.  E.,  145 

Neff,  Peter,  76,  87,  232,  276 

Neilson,  Catharine  Schuyler,  202 

Neilson,  Col.  John,  202 

Nellis,  Charles  F.,  269 

Nellis,  Fred  D.,  270 

Nevins,  Townsend  &  Co.,  48 

New  York  Life  Insurance  &  Trust  Co., 

55,  159,  170,  191 
New  York  Trust  Co.,  48 
Newell,  John,  163,  262 
Newsome,  Miss,  123 
Newsome,  Jesse,  123 
Newspapers,  Cairo,  163 
Nichols,  Lyman,  49 
Niles,  Lotus,  231 
Nordman,  Ernest,  269 
Northwest  Territory,  13 
Nott,  James,  123 
Nye,  Seth  W.,  263 

O 

Oakley,  Dr.  James  H.,  156 

Oakley,  John,    124 

Oakley,  W.  H.,  142 

Oberly,   Mayor  John   H.,   84,    123,   165, 

179,  182,  224,  269,  275 
Oberly,  Mrs.  John  H.,  154,   155 
O'Callahan,  Cornelius,  267 
Officers,   County,   City  and  Other,  269, 

270 
Oglesby,  Joshua,  25 
Oglesbv,  Richard  J.,  267 
O'Hall'oran,  Rev.  P.  J.,  138 


INDEX 


299 


O'Hare,  Rev.  0.,  143 

Phelps,  Almanzer  O.,  276 

Ohio  River  as  a  Boundary,  89 

118 

Phillips,  Rev.  Charles  T.,  140,  141 

Ohio"  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  116 

Phillips,  Daniel,  211 

Ohrura,  Rev.  S.  C,  14+ 

Phillips,  Rev.  J.  W.,  142 

O'Laughlin,  Patrick,  124 

Phillips,  Joe  M.,  275 

Old  Cairo  Veteran  Club,  272 

Phillips,  McGuire,  86 

Oliver,  William,  247,  266 

Phillips  School,  152 

Olney,  Anthony,  42,  97,   107, 

239 

Phvsicians,  270 

01ne3%  John,  262,  269 

Piatt,  B.  M.,  25 

O'Melveny,  Judge  H.  K.  S., 

178,   181, 

Picture  of  Cairo  in  1841,  114 

276 

Pieper,  Rev.  F.,  155 

Ordinance  of  1787,  16 

Piggott,   Capt.  James,  257 

Orphan  Asylum,  262 

Pink,  Mrs.  Charles,  154 

Ort,  George  F.,  276 

Pink,  Edward  G.,  225,  233 

Osborn,  William  H.,  49 

Pitcher,  Christian,  126 

O'Shea,  Michael,  270 

Planters  Bank  of  Cairo,  231,  235 

Osterloh,  Christopher  M.,  87, 

276 

Plats  of  Cairo,  11 1 

Ouabache   (Ohio)  River,  Chapter  II 

Poor,  George  B.,  276 

Ousley,  John  E.,  236 

Pope,  Nathaniel,  25,  27 

Overflow,  Investigation  of,  49 

Pope,  Patrick  H.,  230 

Overflow  of  1858,  49 

Population,  White  and  Colored,  of  the 

Owen,  Capt.  George,  257 

Countv',  209 

Population    of   Alexander    County 

and 

P 

Cairo,  209 

Population    of    Kentucky,    Illinois, 

and 

Page,  Lieut.-Gov.  John,  255 

Missouri,  208 

Pagon,  David,  257 

Porter,  John  D.,  125 

Palmer,  Gen.  John  M.,  275 

Porter,  Thomas,  276 

Palmer,  Maude,  152 

Postmasters     of     the     "Mouth     of 

the 

Parker,  Mrs.  D.  T.,  262 

Ohio"  and  of  the  City  of  Cairo, 

270 

Parker,  Dyas  T.,  267 

Potter,  Henrv  F.,  164 

Parker,  L.  P.,  236,  275 

Powell,  Mrs.' P.  E.,  154 

Parker,  Miles  W.,  276 

Powers,  Mr.,  126 

Parks,  Mrs.  Sarah  E.,  144 

Powers,  Miss  Maroe,  124 

Parrish,  William  H.,  86,  269 

Powers,  Richard  E.,  269 

Parsons,  Mrs.  Ada  V.,  155 

Pratt,  John   (col.)   279 

Parsons,  Charles  158,  160,  161 

Precipitations,  Annual,  284 

Parsons,  Edwin,  158,  161 

Prentiss,  Gen.  Benjamin  M.,  131 

Parsons,  George,  142,  i6i,  180, 

187,  232, 

Presbyterian  Church,  140 

269,  285,  286 

Presidential  Election  of  i860,  128 

Parsons,  Henry,  161 

Prospectus  of  Cairo  City  &  Canal 

Co., 

Parsons,  Mary  Llewellyn,  i6i 

47.  48.  49,  52 

Past,  Present  &  Future  of  the 

City  of 

Prouty,  Nathaniel,  276 

Cairo,  in  North  America,  50 

51 

Pryor,  T.  J.,  233 

Patier,  Mayor  Charles  0.,  80, 

180,  1 84, 

Publications  Illinois  Historical   Society, 

271,  275.  276 

176,  238 

Patier,  Charles  O.,  Jr.,  232 

Pulley  T.  L.,  233 

Patton,  John  N.,  267 

Purchase,  The  Jackson,  259 

Patton,  Samuel  G.,  263 

Putnam,  Rufus,  30 

Pavey,  General  C.  W.,  156 

Pearson,  Amelia,  152 

Q 

Peck's  Gazetteer,  116 

Pelly,  Anna,  277 

Quinn,  James,  189,  274 

Pendleton,  George  H.,  275 

Pennebaker,  C.  B.  S.,  144,  145, 

151 

R 

People's  Paper,  164 

Peter,  Mrs.  F.  J.,  155 

Rafter,  Rev.  W.  W.,  139 

Petry,  Mr.  &  Mrs.  John,  124 

Ragsdale,  Thomas,  236 

Petrv,  Miss  Louise,  124 

Railroad  Companies,  220 

Phelan,  Rev.  D.  S.,  143 

Railroads,  first  ones,  incorporated, 

39 

300 


INDEX 


Railway  Company,  Great  Western,  229 

Russell,  Hon.  E.  L.,  223 

Rainfalls,  284 

Russell,  Dr.  H.  C,  156 

Randall,  Josiah,  49 

Rutherford,  Rev.  W.  C,  145 

Rankin,  Mrs.  J.  C,  262 

Rutter,  J.  J.,  148 

Rankin,  James  C,  235 

Ryan,  John,  212 

Rankin,  Wood  &  Wickwire,  150 

s 

Rasor,  G.  F.,  235 

Rathbone,  B.,  223 

SaflFord,    Alfred    Boardman, 

140,    153. 

Raum,  Gen.  Green  B.,  223 

221,  231,  232,  267,  275,  276 

Rawle,  Wm.,  61 

SaflFord,   Mrs.  Anna  E.,   153, 

154,   194. 

Rawlins,  F.  M.,  269 

262 

Ray  Daughters,  279 

SaflFord  School,  152 

Raymond,  W.  H.,  151 

St.  Charles  Hotel,  235 

Rearden,  James  S.,  267 

St.  Clair,  Gov.  Arthur,  2U 

Recollections,  Flint's,  242 

St.  Cosme,  Father  Jean,  20 

Rector,  John  F.,  233,  270 

St.  Ignace,  18 

Rector,  William,  30,  37 

St.  Joseph's    Roman    Catholic 

Church, 

Redman,  Anna  Riley,  152 

143,  264 

Reed,  J.,  230 

St.  Mary's  Infirmary,  155 

Reed,  Joseph  B.,  79,  141,  275 

St.  Patrick's   Roman    Catholic 

Church, 

Rees,  A.  J.,  233 

138 

Regis,  Father  Frangois,  21 

Salzner,  Henry,  277 

Reice,  Mr.,  124 

Sampson,  Mary  A.,  124 

Reid,  Harvey,  163 

Sander,  Herman,  276 

Relief  Fire  Co.  No.  i,  271 

Sanders,  Addison  H.,  59,  75, 

168,  177, 

Rendleman,  Dr.  J.  J.,  152,  270 

270 

Rennie,  John  T.,  275,  276 

Sanders,  H.  S.,  152 

Reservation,  Indian,  24 

Sandusky,  William  G.,  276 

Reservation,  Soldiers,  24 

Sanford,  Mr.,  247 

Residents  in  January,  1910,  Who  Were 

Sarber,  J.  L.,  145 

here  before  1861,  276 

Saup,  Peter,  143,  232,  276 

Reynolds,   Gov.  John,  48,  98,  191,  213, 

Say,  Thomas,  243 

257,  267 

Scarritt,  Mrs.  J.  A.,  155 

Rhodes-Burford  Co.,  156 

Scarritt,  Rev.  J.  A.,  142 

Ridgeway,  Sir  Thomas,  193 

Scates,  Walter  B.,  269 

Riggle,  Ernest  H.,  275 

Schools  of  the  City,  148 

Riparian  Rights,  85 

Schuart,   Rev.   Carl,   143 

Rittenhouse,  Joseph  H.,  276 

Schulze,  Christian,  142 

Rittenhouse,   Wood,   153,   276 

Schuh,  Herman  C,  152,  154,  i 

15s 

River  Gauge,  92 

Schuh,  Paul  G.,  232,  233,  276 

Rivers,  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  116 

Schutter,  William  H.,  126 

Roach,  James  S.,  275 

Schuyler,  Robert,   113 

Robarts,  Joseph  P.,  269,  275 

Scott,  Mrs.  Mathew  T.,  iii 

Robbins,  Rufus  P.,  221 

Scott,  Myra  L.,  152 

Roberts,  Rev.  H.  P.,  140 

Scullin,  Patrick  C,  269 

Robinson,  John  H.,  212,  269,  276 

Seely,  Mrs.,  144 

Rodgers,  Kearney,  252 

Seepage,  79 

Rogers,  Miss  A.,  123 

Seidel,  Rev.  W.  C,  143 

Rogers,  J.,  loi 

Self,  Eva  C,  152 

Roland,  Rev.  E.  L.,  139 

Semple,  James,  105 

Roosevelt,  President  Theodore,  267 

Seymour,  Rt.  Rev.  George  F., 

139 

Rose,  Miss  Sarah,  123 

Shannessy,  Bryan,  45,  86,  148, 

178,  229, 

Rosenwater,  Samuel,  276 

270 

Ross,  James,  276 

Shannessy,  John,  138 

Rouby,  Jules,  253 

Shaw,  Aaron,  223 

Rough    &   Ready    Fire    Co.    and    First 

Sheilds,  James,  105 

Members  of,  271 

Shelby,  Isaac,  260 

Ruffin,  Josie,  152 

Short,  Jacob,  25 

Rule,  Jesse  W.,  141 

Shumate,  Rev.,  142 

Rush,  Benjamin,  109 

Shurburn,  Mrs.,  124 

INDEX 


301 


Sickles,  Rev.  R.  A.,  144,  145 
Sidwell,  Nathan,  217 
Signal  Station,  92,  263 
Silver,  Sol.  A.,  276 
Simmons,  Rev.  E.  W.,  144 
Simmons,  Henry,  270 
Simons,  Charles  P.,  141 
Simons,  Cyrus  G.,  41,  86,  177 
Sister  Anthony,  155 
Sister  M.  Adela,  155 
Sister  M.  Asteria,  156 
Sister  M.  Augusta,  155 
Sister  M.  Edward,  155 
Sister  M.  Matilda,  155 
Size  of  the  Book,  283 
Skinner,  M.,  loi 
Slade,  Charles,  33,  34,  37 
Sloan,  Wesley,  269 
Sloo,  Mrs.  Al,  154 

Sloo,  James  C,  233,  262,  270 

Sloo,  Miss  Jennie,  262 

Smith,  Miss,  144 

Smith  Egbert  A.,  225,  258,  282 

Smith,  Elizabeth,   152 

Smith,  Elmer,  275 

Smith,  Col.  George  W.,  38 

Smith,  Miss  Hattie,  155 

Smith,  Isaac  N.,  144 

Smith,  James  C,  231 

Smith,  James  R.,  276 

Smith,  John  T.,  236 

Smith,  Mrs.  Louise  E.,  144 

Smith,  Ward  L.,  267 

Smith,  Dr.  Wm.  R.,  122,  124 

Smith  Mrs.  William  R.,  153,  154 

Smith,  Zulima  M.,  152 

Smithland,  Town  of,  246 

Smyth,  P.  H.,  150 

Smyth,  Robert,  276 

Smyth,  Thomas  J.,  232 

Smyth  &  Brother,  235 

Snyder,  Hon.  Adam  W.,  48 

Snyder,  Albert  G.,  98 

Snyder,  Dr.  John  P.,  37 

Soldiers'  Reservation,  1787,  24 

Spann,  Rollo  H.,  141 

Spencer,  Frank  140 

Spencer,  Joe,  278 

Sprague,  Dr.  Ezra  K.,  156 

Sprague,  Peleg,  48 

Springfield  Block,  236 

Stancil,  J.  Q.,  235 
Standing,  William,  87 
Standlee,  Joseph,  213,  214 
Stanley,  Claude  C,  145 
Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  206 
Stanton,  John,  124 
Stapleton,  Peter,  86,  87,  178 
Starzinger,  Mrs.  E.  M.,  155 
Steagala,  Joseph,  275 


Steamboat,     "Tennessee     Valley,"     57, 

115,  263 
Steamboat,  "The  Fulton,"  115 
Stephens,  Mrs.,  124 
Stephens,  H.  T.,  275 
Stephens,  W.  J.,  179,  236 
Stevenson,  Dr.  W.  W.,  156 
Stewart,  Rev.  Robert,  140 
Stickney,  Mrs.  Sarah  S.,  144 
Stockard,  Samuel  J.,  165 
Stone,  Miss  Edna  L.,  215 
Stoner,  Mrs.  W.  H.,  124 
Stophlet,  Frank  W.,  276 
Stout,  Henry  H.,  145 
Stratton,  Mrs.  William  H.,   155,  262 
Street  Filling,  82 
Streets,  names  of,  35,  36,  113 
Strickland,  William,  48,  112,  n6,  i6a 
Strode,  George  W.,  144,  276 
Strode,  Mrs.  Mary  P.,  144 
Strong,  Dr.  J.  E.,  270 
Stuart,  C.  R.,  233 
Stuart,  E.  J.,  233 
Stuart,  Gilbert,  285 
Sullivan,  Miss,  124 
Sullivan,  Rev.  E.  B.,  145 
Sullivan,  John,  124,  189,  274 
Sumner  High  School,  152 
Survey,  Rectangular  System  of,  30 
Survey  of  Township  Seventeen,  30 
Surveyors,  Early  Government,  30 
Sutherland,  William  H.,  141 
Swanwick,  Francis,  98 
Swanwick,  Thomas,  32,  97,  239 
Sweeney,  Rev.  Charles,  138,  143 
Sweney,  Miss  Mary,  124 
Swift,  William  H.,  243 
Swinney,  Mr.,  266 
Sword,  Rev.  F.  A.,  144 


Taber,  Simpson  H.,  276 

Taft,  President  William  H.,  267 

Talbert,  Rev.  Geo.  L.,  144 

Talbot,  Benjamin,  25 

Talbot,  J.  C,  144 

Tanner,   H.   S.,   13,  26 

Taylor,  A.  F.  &  J.  B.,  235 

Taylor,  Araminta,  152 

Taylor,  Augustus   FritzRandolph,   202 

Taylor  House,  266 

Taylor,  John,  202 

Taylor,  John  N.,  202 

Taylor,  Mrs.  P.  A.,  123,  153,  155 

Taylor,  Richard  R.,  162 

Taylor,  Richard  C,  48,  ii2,  116 

Taylor,  Samuel  Staats,  81,  86,  102,  104, 
107,  129,  140,  148,  157,  161,  178,  179, 
195,  222,  223,  243,  261,  263,  285 


302 


INDEX 


Taylor,  Thomas  S.,  51,  58,  61,  157,  160, 

161,  261 
Taylor,  Zachary,  267 
Teel,  Levi,  257 
Teichman,  F.,  232 
Temperatures,  284 
Territory  Drained  by  Rivers,  116 
Tertian  Fever,  20 
Thayer,  Rev.  H.  B.,  140 
Thebes  Railroad  Bridge,  227 
Thielecke,  Edward  W.,  165 
Third  Principal  Meridian,  30,  266 
Thistlewood,  N.  B.,  180,  183,  185,  232, 

269 
Thomas,  Biddle  &  Co.,  48 
Thomas,  Frank,  233 
Thomas,  John,  25,  222 
Thomas,  Capt.  John  R.,  156 
Thomas,  Louis  F.,  115 
Thompson,  Rev.  F.  L.,  142 
Thompson,  Rev.  Frank,   144 
Thompson,  James,  41,  71,  162 
Thompson,  Miss  K.  A.,  123 
Thornton,  W.  W.,  140,  155 
Three  States,  The  Growth  of,  208 
Thrupp,  Charles,  71,  86,  140,  163,  178 
Thrupp,  Mrs.  Charles,  154,  163 
Thurston,  Charles  M.,  213 
Thwaites,  Dr.,  28,  241 
Tilson,  John,  48 
Timmons,  J.  W.,  212 
Tcdd,  Col.  John,  216,  255 
Tonti,  19 

Totten,  James  M.,  276 
Tour  of  the  Western  Country,  241 
Town  Election  of  1855,  86,  177 
Town  Government  of  two  years,  177 
Townley,  Rev.  C.  S.,  144 
Trammel,  Philip,  25 
Travis  &  Alexander,  48 
Treaty  of  Paris,  14 
Tributaries    of    Ohio    and    Mississippi 

Rivers,  116 
Trick,  Rev.  Albert  H.,  140 
Trigg,  Wilton,  142 
Trimble,  Mr.,  231 
Trimble,  Rev.  R.  B.,  144 
Trinity,  Town  of,  28,  40,  213 
TroUo'pe,  Anthony,  134 
Trover,  John  W.,  76,  89,  179,  181,  231 
Trumbo,  Mr.  &  Mrs.,  144 
Trumbull,  Lyman,  267 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  City  Property,  157 
Trustees  of  the  Cairo  Trust  Property, 

157 
Turner,  Arthur  B.,  141 
Turner,  Miss  Bessie  M.,  164 
Tyawapatia,  245 
Tyler,  Lida,  152 
Tyndale,  Sharon,  222 


U 


Underground  Waters  of  Tennessee,  etc., 

90 
United   States  Biographical   Dictionary 

for  Illinois,  275 
United  States  Marine  Hospital,  156 
Uplands,  91 

V 

Vallis,  John,  257 

Vancleve,  Rev.  John,  142 

Van  Delft,  Rev.  William,  155 

Vanderburgh,  Pauline,  152 

Van  Nees,  141 

Van  Treese,  Rev.  F.  M.,  142 

Veteran  Club,  272 

Vickers,  Alonzo  K.,  269 

Vincent,  Francis,  235,  276 

Virginia  Hotel,  235 

Virginia  State  Papers,  255 

Vivier,  Father,  23 

Von    Roques,    Baroness    Caroline    Hol- 

brook,  193,  285 
Voters,  1857,  179,  273 
Votes,  128,  179 

W 

Wabash  River,  Chapter  H 

Walbaum,  Katherine,  152 

Walbridge,  Miss  L.  M.,  123 

Walder,  Isaac,  235 

Waldo,  Dr.  Roswell,  124,  126 

Walker,  George  B.,  265 

Walker,  Harry,  276 

Walker,  Hiram,  236 

Walker,  Dr.  Thomas,  256 

Vv'alker,  William  M.,  42 

Wall,  George  W.,  276 

Waller,  Rev.  J.  L.,  142 

Walsh,  Dr.  John  T.,  156,  270 

Walsh,  Rev.  Thomas,  138 

Walter,  Jacob,  276 

Walworth,  Reuben  H.,  31 

Ward,  Samuel  D.,  48 

Warder,  Walter,  150,  269,  270 

Warder,  Walter  B.,  270 

Wardner,  Dr.  Horace,  140,  155,  275 

Wardner,  Mrs.  Horace,  154,  262 

Warren,  John  (col.),  124 

Warrick,  Mabel  C,  152 

Water,  Highest  and  Lowest  in  Rivers, 

284 
Watkins,  Edmonia  A.,  152 
Watts,  Jesse  B.,  223 
Way,  Clara  B.,  152 
Webb,  Mrs.  H.  W.,  262 
Webb,  H.  Watson,  179,  180,  200,  230, 

237,  251 
Webb,  Henry  W.,  262,  269 


INDEX 


303 


Webb,  Col.  Henry  L.,  37,  180,  211,  251, 

Wilson,  Samuel,  86 

269 

Wilson,  Thomas,  86,  178,  179,  180 

205, 

Weber,  Dr.  Charles,  270 

267,  269,  270,  276 

Webster,  Daniel,  55,  103,  105,  108,  191 

Wilson  &  Co.,  235 

Webster,  T.  0.,  145 

Wilton,  Harry,  98 

Weekly  Star,  165 

Wineman,  Philip,  236 

Wells,  Artesian,  93 

Winston,  Claiborne,  269 

Wells,  Henry,  232,  276 

Winter,  Claude,  180,  186 

Wenger,  Alice,  152 

Winter,  Henry,  125,  180,  183,  267, 

271, 

Wenger,  Joseph  W.,  140,  275,  285 

275,  276 

Wenger,  Mary  B.,  150,  151 

Winter,  William,  235,  285 

Wentworth,  Col.  John,  103,  105 

Winter,  Mrs.  William,  154 

Western  Engineer,  243 

Woelfie,  Dr.  J.  E.,  270 

Western  Pilot,  246 

Wolfe,  Maj.  William,  276 

Whaley,  C.  A.,  87 

Woman's  Club  and  Library  Ass'n, 

153, 

Wharf  and  Wharfage,  113 

154 

Wheeler,  Charles  W.,  276 

Wood,  Col.  John,  180,  182,  270,  276 

Wheeler,  Samuel  P.,  224,  275,  276 

Wood,  Walter  H.,  141,  151 

Wheeler,  Mrs.  Samuel  P.,  154 

Wood,  Mrs.  Walter  H.,  154 

Wheeler,  Dr.  W.  A.,  156 

Wood,  William,  276 

Whitaker,  Margaret,  152 

Woodside  School,  152 

Whitaker,  Mrs.  Martha,  144 

Woodward,  Benjamin  F.,  275 

Whitaker,  Rev.  W.  F.,  142 

Woodward,  C.  R.,  180,  185,  276 

Whitcamp,  Andrew,  269 

Woodward,  Mrs.  Christine,  155 

Whitcamp,  Fred,  142 

Woodward,  Dr.  Rell  M.,  156 

Whitcamp,  Henry,  87,  142 

Worsley,  Septimus,  74 

White,  Anna  G.,  150,  151 

Wright,  John  H.,  157 

White,  Mrs.  Samuel,  144,  154 

Wright,  John  S.,  loi 

White,  Scott,  276 

Wright,   John,   &   Company,    108, 

170, 

White,  William,  141 

190 

Whitlock,  Dr.  E.  W.,  276 

Wright,  Marion  C,  180,  186 

Wieland,  Rev.  W.  F.,  144 

Wilcox,  Jewett,  229 

Y 

Wilcox,  W.  H.,  124,  141 

Wild,  J.  C,  115 

Yates,  Gov.  Richard,  130 

Wilkinson,  Gen.  James,  214 

Yellow  Fever,  122 

Wilkinson,  William  R.,  223 

Yocum,  Reuben  S.,  141,  269,  276 

Wilkinsonville,  Town  of,  28 

Yost,  William  J.,  150,  209,  262 

Willard,  Elijah  J.  45,  46,  160 

Young,  George  W.,  269 

Willett,  Edward,  86 

Young,  John  M.,  55 

Williams,  Abram,  236 

Young,  Lewis  W.,  86,  178 

Williams,  E.  B.,  loi 

Young,  Richard  M.,  109,  190,  269 

Williams,  Thomas  W.,  165,  269 

Williams,  William  M.,  189,  274,  276 

Z 

Williamson,  Mrs.  G.  D.,  262 

Williamson,  George  D.,  231,  267,  276 

Zabel,  Rev.  Francis  H.,  126,  138 

Williamson,  Haynes  &  Co.,  235 

Note:     Pages  268  and  271  to  276 

con- 

Willow  Point,  258 

tain  lists  of  names  of  several  hun 

dred 

Wilson,  Mrs.,   144 

other  residents  of  Cairo,  most  of 

them 

Wilson,  Alexander,  25,  233,  270 

of   many   years    ago.     To   have    given 

Wilson,  F.  E.,  235 

them  in  the  Index  would  have  been  but 

Wilson,  Margaret,  152 

a  repetition  of  the  same. 

